Piece By Piece
by CheddarFetta
Summary: Set ten years after season seven. After Richard's passing, Logan and Rory are brought back into each other's lives. Piece by piece the past and a secret begins to unravel for Rory Gilmore... Piece by piece, life begins to turn upside down for Logan Huntzberger. Piece by piece life begins to make sense all over again.
1. The Funeral

**Hey! Welcome to my story! I really wanted to get this up before A Year In The Life started, to have my say before Rory & Logan's fate is determined once and for all. I missed that boat, just, but I think I still have time. **

**Anyway, this takes place after season 7, but not factoring in whatever happens in A Year In The Life.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER ONE: The Funeral**

With a deep exhale, Logan Huntzberger hangs the phone up after yet another very long, very heated discussion on the phone.

Clutching the tie that is wrapped around his neck, he jiggles it a little; just enough to stop it feeling like a noose that continues to strangle him more and more with every phone call and email.

All the stress, all the pressure and all the job dissatisfaction is just another day at work for Logan, knowing that it isn't going to improve tomorrow, or the day after.

Before carrying on with what will undoubtedly be another intense phone call, Logan takes a breather for a moment, grabbing the newspaper on the edge of his desk before taking a few bites of his prosciutto baguette.

He always eats at his desk and he always flicks through a newspaper while he takes his meagre fifteen minute breaks. However, as a part of his lunchtime ritual, he never just reads one particular paper. The first one that reaches his grasp from his desk is whatever he'll focus on reading as he shovels food and refreshes himself as quickly as possible to keep himself going for the rest of the day. Today, it's ' _The Hartford Courant_ '.

As he nears his last two mouthfuls of baguette, he decides to briefly skip and skim-read portions of the rest of the paper after he finished reading the cover article and the story that interested him on page nine.

 _Flick, flick,_ ' _Disaster', flick, flick_ 'Controversy', _flick, flick_ 'Local school' are all words that jump out at him until a particular photo printed on the black and white page of the Obituaries stops Logan's skim-reading, instantly.

 _Richard Gilmore_.

Those two words and the all-too-familiar photograph of his ex-girlfriend's beloved grandfather, looking about five years older than he did the last time that he saw him stops him dead in his tracks.

He doesn't stop to read the listing, to read the summation of his life according to the short article.

Richard Gilmore.

1943-2016

Beloved husband - devoted father - cherished grandfather and _great-grandfather_.

Instead, as soon as he sees the name of Rory's grandfather and the accompanying photograph, he slams the black and white pages shut, grabs the phone on his desk and hits the shortcut to his P.A.'s line.

"Claire? It's me. I need you to find out what you can on when and where Richard Gilmore's funeral will be held for me, please. Also, get me a seat on the next flight out to Hartford. Great, thanks."

#

The funeral was held two days after Logan landed in Hartford from California.

Both his parents also attended the funeral, separately. In fact, he didn't even notice that they were there aside from when he sighted his father at a distance speaking to Hanlin Charleston before the funeral began.

Before the funeral, he'd also seen Christopher with who he assumed was his daughter Gigi. She looked old enough to be, but she had certainly grown a lot since the last time he'd seen his ex-girlfriend's half-sister at around age four, compared to the teenager she is now.

Then, Logan next sights, although he doesn't instantly recognise the baseball-cap-less head of Lorelai's on-off partner, Luke. He is already seated on the front-row, with a young girl, no older than ten who is resting her head on his shoulder. Perhaps he and Lorelai had had a child together?

It's an unusual situation to be in, seeing, watching people he had known, trying to piece together almost the last decade of their lives as he observes them all from afar.

Then, just as he takes his seat for the funeral proceedings to begin, he catches a glimpse of the three women. The three women who are supporting each other and carrying each other through the day and through the loss that Logan's knows will be harder on them than any other person in the room...

The dignified funeral service progresses, with Richard's life, loves and achievements all being summarised in an hour.

After the main talk, Lorelai takes to the stage to make a speech about her father, before passing it onto the next speech.

Rory's.

And, just like the day she broke his heart, nine years ago, Rory Gilmore takes to the stage, all dressed in black all over again for a very different reason...

#

After the funeral, Logan hung around for as long as he could.

A part of him didn't know what he expected from today. He _knew_ that he wanted to be there, to support Rory and her family, even if he was just another face in the crowd that had bothered to show up and pay their respects for her grandfather.

However, another part of him was distracted from every conversation that he was supposed to be engaged in, looking out of the corner of his eye, scanning the room, looking for her.

Then, just as he made the decision to leave after wrapping up a conversation with a fellow, former-student from Yale, he begins to walk off and out, turning the corner to face the one and only.

Despite the nine years that had past, she looked like a day had barely passed since he last saw her. She was just as beautiful, just as breathtaking as ever.

"Ace..."

* * *

 **I know the first chapter is brief, but it's a start. Please let me know what you thought and please let me know if you'd like more.**


	2. Time Gone By

**CHAPTER TWO: Time Gone By**

"Logan. What are you doing here?"

He didn't even notice that Rory was surrounded by her family until Lorelai whispers, "We'll give you two a minute" before ushering away whoever else had been standing with Rory away to give them privacy.

"I saw the announcement in the paper. I had to be here, pay my respects. He was a good man, your grandfather."

"Well, thank you."

The former lovers stand together uncomfortably as Logan places his hands in suit-pant pockets, while Rory looks down and analyses her polished black shoes.

"So how are you? How are you doing?"

"Good... Good, thanks. Yourself? How have you been?" Rory says, replying as succinctly as possible. Her closed body language and mannerisms reveal so much more about how she is feeling to Logan than her words do.

"Yeah, I'm well too."

After nine years, there is so much that can be said and so many questions that could be asked. However, before Rory and Logan have the chance to even begin to dive into the dozens of small talk options regarding work, personal life and family, they are interrupted by the little girl that had been sitting with Luke during the funeral. She has to be Rory's much younger sister.

As she comes over, the smaller girl gives Logan a wary once-over and she shifts shyly to be as close to Rory's side as she can be.

"Who's this?" Logan says with a smile at the little girl. Her most noticeable feature is the same blinding blue eyes as both Lorelai and Rory.

Logan considers himself as being good with kids. His niece and nephew absolutely adore him. Yet, looking at the younger girl in front of him, he can sense her slight fear, her unfamiliarity of him.

"This is Elleigh" Rory says, rubbing the little girls arm as she wraps an arm around her smaller shoulder. The child nods to confirm her name as she is introduced.

"Hello Elleigh, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name's Logan Huntzberger" Logan smiles, locking eyes with the younger girl as he holds his hand out to her.

Rory can't help but note that the man before her, her former lover is as charming as ever. He is warm enough to make a good impression on Elleigh as any shyness she has quickly dissolves when she moves away from the security of Rory just a little to reach out and shake Logan's hand, the two exchanging a pleasant smile.

"Hi" Elleigh responds as the handshake draws to a close.

Now that there is a gap in the conversation, two pairs of blue eyes lock when Elleigh looks up to Rory, relaying the message that she'd been sent to give.

"Everyone's leaving now."

Rory nods at the message, before looking to Logan and immediately beginning to scurry off with Elle at the first opportunity she is given to flee.

"We've got to go. It was good seeing you again, Logan."

"It was good seeing you too, Ace" Logan responds, a little sadly. However, he might as well be speaking to himself under his breath for the fact that Rory has rushed off too quickly to hear him speak.

Watching the two girls walk off and hurry back to where the rest of the Gilmore-Danes clan is waiting, before Logan too walks off in the opposite direction, not knowing whether it'll be another nine years before he lays eyes on her again.

#

After the funeral, Emily was dropped home and ensured that she was okay... Well as okay as she can be after spending the day burying her husband of fifty years.

As proud as ever, the Gilmore matriarch had insisted that she was perfectly fine and that there was nothing more that she needed other than a good drink and an even better nights rest.

Since the Gilmore-Danes' have just returned home Elleigh had already raced ahead inside with Luke and the promise of a hot chocolate and pop tarts - Luke found solace in the idea of forcing the child to eat a salad tomorrow. Wisely, the male of the household had sensed that the mother and daughter needed some time together after the weight of the day that they've been through.

This left Lorelai and Rory to hang behind, approaching the home slower as they walked and talked.

"I still can't believe it. I still can't believe we're never going to see Grandpa again. It doesn't feel any more real. It doesn't make any more sense" Rory sighs sadly. She had managed to remain composed all day. Just now, though, she is revealing much more about how she's feeling than she had all day.

"I know kiddo. I know" Lorelai responds, the typically bubbly woman sounding drawn, exhausted.

The mother slings her arm around her adult daughter's arms protectively, comfortingly as they walk up the steps in synchronization, taking a seat on the outdoor swing together.

To try and move the conversation away from the somber, emotional note that it has hit, Lorelai changes the subject, finally having the chance to ask her daughter about what she has been dying to ask since it happened.

"So... What about Logan? What an appearance, hey? I saw him speaking with you and Elle."

"Yeah... It was brief, thankfully. I assume that one of you sent her over to tell me that you were leaving."

Lorelai nods at her daughter's response. She knows that considering the fact that Rory is giving her nothing but emotionless facts means that there is in fact a deeper meaning hidden within her words.

"How did you feel about that? Did you say anything?"

"Of course I didn't say anything. How could I? It just felt awfully strange though... I mean, he saw her, mom. They looked right at each other. They met; they shook hands without either of them really knowing who the other one is."

Lorelai gives her daughter a sad smile, before enveloping her in a form of hug, an arm around Rory's shoulders.

"Oh hon... It's not easy, I know. Did seeing him change things at all?"

"No. It was nice that he made the effort to come to the funeral, but it has to stay this way. It's too late to go back now..."

* * *

 **Wow. Wow. WOW! So, I posted this story the day before I went away and I have been away for just over two weeks. I came home yesterday to find 21 reviews and 134 followers for this story. That is INSANE! Thank you all SO much for reading this story and supporting it. That has been an incredible boost for me to keep going with this story. I hope you will all love the ride we go on with our favourite characters.**

 **Also, since I left the day after the G.G. revival was released, I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, so please don't add any spoilers in the reviews just yet! :D**

 **Next chapter: We properly meet Elleigh and get to know a little more about her and her life.**


	3. Elleigh

**Hey guys, thank you SO much to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. You have no idea how much I appreciate the support and how amazed I am at how many people are following this story!**

 **Just quickly, something that I forgot to mention in the last chapter is the pronunciation of Elleigh's name. It's pronounced the same way as 'Ellie' (Eh-lee), it's just spelled differently. You'll see the reason behind why Elleigh is written the way it is in the chapter.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 3: Elleigh**

Now, we know all about Lorelai Gilmore the First, as well as the reigning Lorelai Gilmore the Second and her daughter Lorelai Gilmore the Third. However, what about the youngest; Lorelai Gilmore, the Fourth?

Lorelai Elleigh Gilmore was born to her single mother on the 12th of December 2007, approximately seven months after her parent's breakup and her mother's college graduation.

Similarly to the preceding Lorelai Gilmore -her mother who is just known as Rory- she is called by her middle name, Elleigh, or "Elle" for short.

Due to the "Lorelai" tradition, there had been no question of what Rory's daughter's name would be. Then, as a meld of her and Logan's middle names, Elias and Leigh, Rory had chosen her middle name Elleigh which is a meld of the two.

Physically, Elleigh bears a strong resemblance to Rory as a child, sharing the same striking, ice-blue eyes, her delicate features and mannerisms.

However, there are two identifiable marks of Logan in his daughter; her straight, long blonde hair and the way she smiles like her father; with the smile and happiness as evident in her eyes as it is on her lips.

Again, in many ways, Elleigh's personality and manner reminds both Lorelai and the townspeople of Stars Hollow of Rory at age nine in the way that she is very placid, sweet and utterly loved by everyone who knows her. However, _unlike_ her mother, Elleigh also has a wild streak; a ripple of cheekiness and adventurousness, balanced out by her charm; all undoubtedly from her father.

Really, the result of combining Rory and Logan's genetics just essentially equals another Lorelai.

#

Just as the previous generation of Gilmore girls, Elleigh too has an extremely strong relationship with her mother.

History repeating itself had not stopped there. In fact, Rory, too, had followed in her own mother's footsteps after her daughter's birth. Despite her grand ambitions and despite the fact that she had a Diploma under her belt, after Elleigh was born Rory gave up the Obama campaign work and stayed rooted in the small town of Stars Hollow.

Rather than pursuing greatness for her career out in the big, wide world, Rory took up a job at the local paper in Stars Hollow. Kirk had applied for the same job and didn't speak to her for a week after she won the position instead of him.

It was not what Rory had planned for her life, but just like her own mother, she did what she had to. She put her daughter first and made it her priority to be able to support Elleigh and get her through school.

Rory and her daughter had lived with Lorelai and Luke for the first two years of Elleigh's life, allowing the post-college graduate some time to get herself organised and save up enough to be able to support herself and her daughter when they finally left Rory's childhood home. Consequently, Lorelai and Elleigh were extremely close too, appreciating each other's kindred spirit.

Lorelai had been adamant against being called ' _grandma_ ' or any similar title which she thought made her sound old and decrepit. So, against both Rory and Luke's opinion, she ensured that she ditched the traditional titles in favour of being called ' _glam-ma_ ' by her granddaughter, instead. Despite her daughter and husband's best efforts against it, ' _glam-ma_ ' (which almost unnoticeably sounds like ' _grandma_ ' when the girls talk as fast as they do) had stuck.

However, not only had Lorelai managed to manipulate her title that her granddaughter gave her, but she had also been able to enforce her granddaughter's title for her husband, Luke. The late Gilmore patriarch, Richard Gilmore, had been simply known as ' _grandpa_ ' to both his granddaughter and great granddaughter alike. Then Rory's father and Elleigh's grandfather, Christopher was known as 'Grandpa Christopher', while Elleigh's step grandfather, Luke, was 'Grandpa Butch', as encouraged by Lorelai and based on his high school nickname.

Also just like the mother and daughter of the previous generation, Elleigh joined the line of caffeine addicts, _of course_ , despite Rory's best efforts against it. She had fought a losing battle to try and keep her daughter away from coffee. This began when she was around three and Rory would have to keep a close eye on where she kept her coffee cups in the house, knowing that if it was in the toddler's reach, her cup would be empty by the time that she got back to it.

#

In addition to being close to her family, Elleigh has a number of friends around Stars Hollow. She is particularly close to Lane and Zach's twins, the Van Gerbig boys; Steve and Kwan who are best friends and like big brothers alike to the younger girl.

Elleigh also has a little bit to do with Jackson and Sookie's children. However, given the fact that they are a few years older than Elleigh and the Van Gerbig boys, Davey and Martha are more like the cool older kids that they aspire to be like and hang out with.

One other particularly notable friend of Elleigh's is the town sourpuss – Michel. For someone who spends 90% of his life hating everyone and everything, the Frenchman has a surprising soft spot for the child. In fact, Elle is up there with Michel's Chows in terms of likability.

The other townspeople of Stars Hollow adore Elleigh too, in just the same way as they had loved her mother as a child. In fact, Elleigh almost outdoes Rory. She has the sweetness of her mother with the charm of her father... After all, no one can pull a prank on Taylor Doose with Steve and Kwan and then simply sweetly apologise her way out _without_ receiving a seven-hour lecture like Elleigh can.

Elleigh Gilmore was essentially the grandchild of Stars Hollow.

#

After spending the day of the funeral with Luke and Lorelai, the following day Rory and Elleigh returned to their own home. Their cosy, little two-bedroom home in Stars Hollow is located closer to the township, a few streets away from the town square, in between Sookie and Jackson's family home and Kim's Antiques.

This is where you'll find Rory in the lounge room, typing away furiously on her laptop when her young daughter slowly creeps into the room. She can finally approach her privately, now that the mother and daughter are at home together, alone.

"Hey, Elle... Is everything okay sweetheart?"

Now, one more thing that should be known about Elleigh is her insatiable curiosity. That is why, when the mother and daughter finally have a moment alone, the nine year old just _has to_ ask the question that has been on her mind since the day before.

"Mom...?" Elleigh Gilmore finally says working up the courage to ask the question that has been bouncing around within her, since the funeral. In fact, it's been a welcome distraction for the young girl since her great-grandfather's passing.

"You know that man that you were talking to at grandpa's funeral... Who was that?"

* * *

 **Ah guys, you amaze me. Thank you so much for all of the awesome support and feedback that you have given me and this story so far. I hope you'll love the adventures coming up for Rory, Logan and Elle as well as all of our other favourite characters. Thank you all again for the support thus far.**

 **Next chapter: After the run-in at the funeral, both Logan and Elleigh do a bit of digging and research. What does Elle uncover?**


	4. Dig Deeper

**Once again, can I just say a massive thank you to everyone who is bothering to read and review this story. I am astounded by the response so far and I am so eager and excited to continue with this. I have seven chapters ready and waiting to post! The next update will be up sooner than the last two.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 4: Dig Deeper**

" _You know that man that you were talking to at grandpa's funeral... Who was that?"_

Rory instantly squirms uncomfortably as soon as she hears her daughter's unexpected question that hits a little too close to home. However, she is able to quickly regain her composure to be able to carry on as though it is nothing.

"You heard who he was, Elle. I introduced you to him, remember hun? His name's Logan Huntzberger. He's an old friend of mine."

Elle nods at her mother's response, although her eyes don't leave the identical pair of blue orbs. It's almost as though what Rory has just told her _isn't_ the response that the younger girl had been expecting to hear.

"I recognised him... Isn't he in your college photos? Like the photo where you're holding hands with the umbrellas as well as the other one where you're wearing that blonde wig."

Rory is instantly floored.

She knows that her daughter is intuitive and she knows that her daughter is clever. However, what she _doesn't_ know is _where_ Elle had seen or _when_ she had shown her daughter those college photos, particularly any with _Logan_ in them. Not to mention, she also doesn't know how Elleigh managed to recognise and make the connection between the face of the man in the photos and the man who she had met only briefly; over ten years on from when those photos had been taken.

"You used to be boyfriend and girlfriend, didn't you?" Elle adds before Rory has a chance to recover from her surprise and before she even had a chance to answer Elle's previous question.

Rory momentarily weighs up all of her options, quickly compiling a mental pro-con list. She decides that she has no reason **not** to confirm her daughter's question; wanting to avoid lying to her as much as she can, despite the fact that Elle's probing questions are getting a little too close for comfort.

"Um, yes... Yes, he was in my college photos and yes he used to be my boyfriend. I hadn't seen him in a very long time. Where are all these questions coming from? And where did you see those photos, Elle?"

"I thought so" Elle grins, the fact that she has her guess confirmed as being correct is a little confidence booster for the younger girl. "Glam-ma showed me the photos last year when she was looking after me one day. You looked like a princess in the umbrella photos, mom."

Rory gives her daughter a smile, trying to hide her nerves and the increasing pounding of her heartbeat after the unexpected conversation that she's just had.

"Thanks sweetheart. Now I better get back to my work and you better get to bed soon."

Elle nods at her mother and gives her a charming smile that reminds Rory one hundred percent of her daughter's father before she walks off obediently.

However, despite her smile and despite her charm, the child doesn't let on to her mother that there was _much_ more to Elle's question than just a simple suspicion of who the stranger from the funeral had been and how he knew her mother...

Elle didn't mention to Rory that she knew that Logan had been in her mother's graduation dinner photos too, seeing as he was the person in the other photos. She had seen the way that they had had their arms slung around each other, lovingly in the photo with Logan, her mom, grandparents and great-grandparents. However, she had also received the confirmation of what she already guessed; that Logan and her mom had been together during college.

Elle knows that a pregnancy lasts for nine months.

Elle knows that she was born seven months after her mother graduated college.

Elle knows that her mom was in that picture that was taken just over seven months before she was born, _with_ someone she had dated at some point in time.

Elle knows that her father is a sensitive and uncomfortable subject with her mother.

However, Elle also knows that she has other ways to find out information, beyond just asking her mother directly.

So, not only does Miss Elleigh's hunt for information not quite end there, but little does she know that she's not the _only one_ digging for information...

#

Once Logan returned to work from Hartford and the funeral, he couldn't help but do a little research of his own. While he hadn't gone to the funeral _to see_ Rory, he had hoped to even at least catch a glimpse of her from afar while he was there. When he did see her, they didn't have very long to chat before they were interrupted and before she consequently left.

So, Logan decides to try and find out for himself about what she's up to these days and where her life has taken her over the past nine years.

Taking his fifteen minute lunch break for the day, Logan decides to spend it doing some research and finding out what he can with the help of Mr. Google.

He quickly types ' _Rory Gilmore_ ' into the search bar. He quickly determines that she doesn't have any public social media accounts, not that that's surprising. He then begins looking for news articles and Logan is initially met with a few just mentioning her name in conjunction with her grandfather's recent death and obituaries.

When his search deepens just a little, Google tells him that she attended a D.A.R. luncheon with her grandmother in New York, just six months ago.

Google tells him that she had obviously found some success with journalism and freelancing, with her name proudly on the by-line of numerous articles published by a number of different papers over the last four years.

Google tells him that in conjunction with some freelancing articles, she appears to have permanent work based in Stars Hollow, working with the local newspaper there.

Google tells him, that apparently she has found favour and credibility for her work, being positively recognised and received by fellow journalists.

However, what Google _doesn't_ tell Logan is why there seems to be a gap and hiatus not only in her portfolio -but also any other mention of her- from half a year after her graduation and their breakup, spanning across another five years after that before her life seems to carry on as normal after the seeming absence...

#

After feeling like her mom had dried up as a useful resource, Elle didn't give up, but simply moved onto something else.

She decided to do an internet search to see what news and what information Logan's name would produce. Last year in school, they had learnt how to do Google searching for research and as a demo they all had to try typing their own names into Google. Steve and Kwan had been terribly jealous that the name 'Elleigh Gilmore' brought up a bunch of news results from her connection to the Gilmore family while their names had led to nothing.

After Elle's initial Google search of ' _Logan Huntsburger_ ', she was promptly led to the more popular search term of ' _Logan Huntzberger'_.

There, she found an abundance of resources at her fingertips; she could basically write a biography about the man that she knew nothing about apart from his name.

Elle scans a few web pages that mention Logan, along with a lot of other names of people and companies that she hadn't heard of. One article in particular was informative and interesting, essentially summarising his life and career as a successful entrepreneur.

She finds a multitude of other recent, glowing articles and reports about him, as well as a few paparazzi shots connected to pointless articles featuring him grabbing coffee or getting in and out of cars.

However, it's only when she finds another, much older article that leads to a dead link when Elle's search for information becomes a bit deeper...

The article heading from 2007 catches her attention reading ' _Huntzberger Heir Embroiled in Scandal_ '.

The link to the article was dead and the page had either been moved or deleted altogether as it told her 'this webpage cannot be found'.

Trying to find any other links that work, Elle finds a number of other similar articles with similar headlines such as: ' _Media Magnate Mitchum Huntzberger Rescues Disgraced Son'_ and ' _Huntzberger Heir Brings Controversy upon Family'_.

None of the links that she found from the brief search worked and consequently nothing led her to any articles that told her anymore than what their headlines did. All she knows is that Logan had been wrapped in some sort of trouble in 2007, a few months before she was even born and she knows that it isn't going to be easy to find out _what_ that trouble was.

However, Elle isn't deterred by the setback and she simply makes a mental note to keep it in mind and return to researching that particular off-shoot at a later date.

Instead, her attention is turned to something else. Another webpage that had only been posted in the last week. The webpage presents her with a once-off chance, an opportunity, to keep digging, to further her research and to find out whether or not she is right again about her new suspicions.

The nine-year-old is more of her mother's daughter than what anyone ever realised...

Elleigh Gilmore feels like she has a scoop, a strong lead that she is determined to follow up and _now_ she has the opportunity to pursue it.

* * *

 **Please let me know what you thought of the chapter. Also, let me know if there's anything in particular that you would like to see in the story or anything you'd like me to incorporate. No promises, but I'll do my best!**

 **One of the big questions that keeps coming up in reviews is why Rory didn't tell Logan. You'll find out why Rory never told Logan about Elle further on... Could it have anything to do with Logan's scandal? More about both of those issues will be revealed in upcoming chapters.**

 **Another recurring question is how come Logan never found out. My explanation is that similarly to Lorelai, Rory kept Elleigh out of and away from Hartford's 'society' bubble and functions. Sure, Emily may have mentioned having a great-granddaughter to her friends but unless there's ages or dates involved, there's really no reason why it would get back to Mitchum or Shira and why they would jump to the conclusion of it being Logan's. After all, people move on.**

 **Next chapter: As Elleigh pursues her scoop, where exactly will it lead her? What 'opportunity' has she found? Plus, it's panic stations when Rory and Lorelai discover that Elle is missing. **


	5. Gone

**Thanks to everyone who read/reviewed/followed/favourited the last chapter and my story. Especially those who left a review - I appreciate your feedback immensely.**

 **I'm hoping that I'll be able to post another chapter later this week, all going well, but I hope you enjoy this one for the time being.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 5: Gone**

A couple of days after her hunt for information, Elleigh is finally ready to take the next step to pursue her lead.

This morning Lorelai is dropping her off at school before she heads to work at the Inn. Usually, Rory would walk with her and drop her off before walking to her own job at the Gazette. However, Rory had to go in an hour earlier today, so she teed up the drop-off with her mother.

"Bye honey-bun! Have a good day, Elle" Lorelai says, beginning to wave at the nine-year-old frantically, doing her best to embarrass her only grandchild as they part ways in front of her school.

"Bye..." Elle responds with gritted teeth, not even half as enthusiastic as the older woman is.

After giving the little blonde girl one last hug, Lorelai heads back to her Jeep as Elle waits patiently on the spot and discreetly waves her goodbye.

Once the car and her grandmother have driven off and are out of sight, Elle drops her school bag to the ground, pulling out a single piece of paper, changing course from where she is _supposed_ to be headed for; the school ground and her classrooms. Elleigh knows that she only has one chance and the printed piece of paper that she is holding just reminds her that it is for one day only; those words sprawled out across the sheet in bold, capital letters.

She can't go back now and she can't give up her one and only chance to follow her lead and to follow the scoop. So, not only does she change course from her classroom where she is expected to be within ten minutes, but she heads straight for the bus stop instead.

Elle walks slowly, knowing that she is less likely to be caught out by walking through the town square than she is to be busted for standing and waiting at the bus stop. So, even though the bus stop is just on the other side of the town square she takes her time and walks slowly -but not slow enough to bring any suspicion on herself- until she finally reaches the bus stop and is only left waiting for two minutes before the next bus headed out of Stars Hollow arrives at the only stop in town.

As the bus pulls up, the doors open to reveal Kirk... Because, _o_ _f course,_ he's started working as a bus driver recently. "Morning, Elle. It's a Thursday... Don't you have school?"

"Nope, student free day" Elle responds succinctly, not skipping a beat as she lies through her teeth.

"Right... I knew that. Jump in."

Elle gives the town workaholic a grin and climbs into the bus, finding a seat towards the back to settle into and get comfy for the long drive ahead of her.

As she shuffles around in her seat a little, Elle suddenly becomes aware of an awful, sinking feeling within her... fear.

Elle feels her penchant for adventure slipping away as the logical and scary side of her excursion suddenly becomes harder and harder to ignore. She suddenly worries about making the trip on her own. After all, she hadn't told her mom, or anyone else for that fact, where she is going or why. She didn't say a word to anyone because she knew she probably wouldn't be sitting on a bus at this very minute if she did.

However, even though she knows that this is her only chance and even though she knows that she has to take it, it's still just a little bit scary. After all, she is headed to an unfamiliar city, on her own. Not to mention, she's getting there in a bus that _Kirk's_ driving.

With every stop that the bus passes and with every minute that the bus travels away from the small town, it becomes more and more apparent that the only way _out_ now, is _through_... Through a bus headed out of and _away_ from Stars Hollow...

#

Later that day, just after lunch, Lorelai returns inside to Dragonfly Inn from where she'd been out in the Inn's stables. Grooming the horses is supposed to someone else's job, but every now and then she will find excuses to go and pat Desdemona and Cletus. Today is one of those days.

"Oh, good, you're back. Your offspring is holding up the phone" Michel hisses as unpleasant as ever.

With a roll of her eyes, Lorelai heads straight for the phone, giving Michel a dirty look as she answers the phone to Rory.

"Hey hun."

"Mom? Mom! I've sent you nearly 20 messages! I, I've called the Inn seven times and Michel's been keeping count and tallying them in favours that I owe him and he didn't know where you were and he wouldn't go and look for you and I couldn't reach you and-"

Lorelai's face turns to a frown, being filled with worry from the second that Rory uttered the word ' _mom_ ' for the second time. She could hear the terror and fear in Rory's voice, not to mention she notes the way that she is rambling on rather than getting to the point of what is worrying her; not surprising seeing as she _is_ her mother's daughter.

"Rory, honey, slow down. Take a deep breath and find another word than ' _and'_. What's wrong? What's going on?"

"It's Elleigh... Did you remember to take her to school today? Did you take her into her classroom?"

Lorelai's face scrunches up at the obscure question in relation to Rory's panic attack.

"Of course I did. I took her to school, I made sure that she was ten minutes early for her class and I made sure that I embarrassed her sufficiently before I left. But no, I didn't walk into her classroom with her. I thought you stopped walking her into class at the beginning of last year."

"Yeah... Yeah, you're right. I don't do that anymore either. I'm sorry, I'm just panicking."

"Rory, tell me what's going on."

Urgency is rising in Lorelai's voice as she feels the panic beginning to pulsate within her. She's getting a pretty good idea of what is going on, but she hopes her daughter will prove her wrong. She likes **that** idea much more than the other theory that is formulating itself within her mind.

"Mom... Elle's missing. I got a text from the school a half hour ago reminding me to give her a note to take in tomorrow about why she's absent. So, I rang her teacher who confirmed she hasn't been in class all day today. I phoned our house too in case you forgot to take her and she slept in. I called your house, just in case. I called Luke who's freaking out now too. I called Lane and Zach who are interrogating the twins about whether they know anything about where she is. I called dad. I called Grandma. I called Miss Patty. I called the police. She's just _gone_ , mom, and I have no idea where she is."

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed the chap. This one's a bit of a filler chapter, but it's leading into something bigger... We'll get to that with the next chapter.**

 **Please let me know what you thought and if there's anything that you'd like to see. I've written 17 chapters for this story so far, but I have got some room to add if there's any requests or anything that you'd like to see, as long as I'm able to factor it in.**

 **I can't wait for you all to read what else is ahead for Logan, Rory and Elle!**

 **Next chapter: Where has Elleigh gone? Has she found Logan? Will the others find her?**


	6. The Lost Years

**I am SO sorry. I am so sorry that this isn't up sooner and I am so sorry that this chapter isn't longer.** **To make up for it, I'm going to kick my own butt and edit the next chapter so it's easy to post sooner. Also, regarding the length of the chapters, if I remember right the next chapter is a little shorter, but from there on they start getting longer and longer... finally! It just takes a while to get into the swing of writing a new story, _especially_ when writing for a fandom for the first time. **

**Anyway, thank you so much to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. I'm getting some really awesome feedback and I really appreciate it.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 6: The Lost Years**

After the bus ride that had been both a little bit long and a little bit scary, Elle finally arrives at where she wants to be.

When the nine year old gets off at the last stop on the route, she searches for the kindest looking faces in the crowds, as well as help kiosks that she finds along her path until she finally reaches her destination.

At her destination, she is stuck in crowds that she can't quite see through before the crowd is directed to form a very slowly moving line.

Waiting in the line for over an hour, listening to the never-ending ' _next_ 's, Elle just patiently follows the slowly moving line and quietly waits from where she is seemingly invisible in the crowd; invisible to everyone but one person as she reaches the front of the line.

The one person that she, and everyone else, is here to see.

The older blonde man is wearing a tired looking smile as he first looks above Elle's head; initially expecting the height of an adult. However, when she falls into his gaze, her presence produces a genuine smile of recognition on Logan's face.

"Hi there... I know you, don't I?"

Elle just grins back at Logan as she nods her head at his question, waiting to see whether he can determine _where_ he knows her from without her giving it away.

"I saw you at the funeral. Elleigh, isn't it? You're Rory's sister, right? Hi again..."

Initially Elle smiles at how quickly the older man puts two and two together, before her smile falls just as quickly when she hears the crucial element that he had gotten wrong.

"No... I don't have a sister. She's my mom."

Suddenly, Logan chokes on nothing, grabbing at his throat as he reaches for the glass of water sitting on the table that suddenly has a purpose.

"Oh, uh, um, okay."

As Logan grapples with finding composure, he also grapples with his tie, trying to loosen it even just a little. The second that the little girl in front of him answered his last question, it suddenly felt like his tie had somehow been tightened and now he feels like he's choking.

"Is Ror- is _your mom_ here sweetheart?"

Elle shakes her head.

While what Logan really wants to know is _why_ and _how_ that is the case seeing as she is sitting here her on her own, he instead takes a different course of action.

"Claire" he calls out, beckoning his personal assistant. "Claire, can you please have a spare chair brought here for this little lady to sit here with me. Thanks."

Next, Logan turns to the little girl that is still standing in front of him and the table that he had been been using for the signings and meet-and-greet which felt like a million years ago now.

"Okay, so, she's not here. She _does_ know that _you_ are here, though... doesn't she?"

Logan looks to Elle for an answer as her expression she gives him answers his question without a word. Her expression reads equal parts mischievousness and equal parts charm; telling Logan that no, no Rory does _not_ that her daughter is here with him.

"Oh man, you're gonna have me killed, kid" Logan mutters under his breath, knowing that it's not just Rory that will be after him; it'll be Rory, her mother, her father, Luke and 95% of Stars Hollow's citizens.

Logan takes a deep breath, trying his hardest to work out what the best course of action is from here on out.

He knows that he has over a hundred people here, waiting in line to meet him. He knows that there is a little girl, his ex's daughter, here with him, and without her mother knowing. He knows that both of those things require his attention. However, he also knows that he has a theory about her presence here growing in the back of his mind; a theory that he is finding impossible to ignore.

"Okay, here's the plan" he says to the child beside him, as he tries to sound like he's a confident entrepreneur and not a panicking grown man who is really just pep-talking himself.

"So, I'm going to talk to all these people as quickly as I can and wrap this seminar up as fast as humanly possible. Then, we'll head straight for Stars Hollow and I'll take you back home to your mom. You do live in Stars Hollow, right? But, first, I'm gonna give you my phone and you're going to call your mom and tell her that you're okay and that you'll be home soon, because I know that she'd probably be getting quite worried by now. Sound like a plan?"

Elle nods at the older man and she holds her hand out, signalling a high-five of agreement. The two blondes share a high-five before Logan passes Elle his phone as she enters the number that her mom had forced her to learn at age 5.

"Mommy?" the child that seems and acts so much older than her age, suddenly sounds a whole lot younger with that one word. "I'm really sorry that I didn't go to school today and I didn't tell you. I'm okay. I'm safe. I just caught the bus into the city. I'll be home a little bit later."

When she hears her mother's panicked voice on the other side of the phone, Elle speaks as quickly as she can –a skill that comes naturally to a Gilmore- and hangs up before she has a chance to be disciplined over the phone.

"I think I'm gonna be in a _lot_ of trouble later" Elle says with a familiar, sheepish grin as she looks up to Logan, who just nods at the young girl's prediction with gritted teeth.

Logan's personal assistant approaches the table which is located in front of the large, waiting crowd, bearing an additional chair for the youngster.

"Logan, would you like me take the limo and get her home while you're doing the meet up? Or I can find someone else who can do it?"

"No. No, I'm going to wrap this up as fast I can and I'll go with her to take her home. I don't want her to leave my sight until I know that she's back home with her mom, safe and sound" Logan replies, suddenly feeling protective over the little girl and everything that could go wrong with her if he let her out of his sight in the big city.

Claire nods at her bosses answer and Logan turns to the line-up of people that are there waiting for him, beginning to speak with the next person in line after Elleigh; determined to get through them all as quickly as possible.

As Logan makes small talk with person after person, it's as though he's on autopilot. His mouth is carrying on without him and while he is doing and saying one thing, his mind is thinking about something very different. Really, Logan's mind is running wild as piece by piece, Rory's 'lost years' when her career came to a standstill after college begins to make sense. Maybe...

While there are a lot of unanswered questions, there is also one strong possibility forming within Logan's mind. However, his theory still feels far too wild to believe without confirmation. Even _he_ can't quite accept his theory.

After all, Rory wouldn't do that to him... _Would she_?

* * *

 **So Elle's in New York... to see Logan... who is now getting suspicious too. Fun times ahead for Rory!**

 **I know a lot of you were looking forward to another meeting between the father and daughter (even if they don't know that) so I hope that this lived up! Logan & Elle have quite a few little moments together over the next few chapters. I'd love to see what you guys thought of their meeting as well as how Logan handled the situation. **

**Next chapter: On the road to Stars Hollow, Logan and Elle use the time to learn more a little more each other, with a little interrogating thrown in there. **


	7. Interrogations

**Yes! Under a week, guys! I was hoping to have the chapter up within a week and ba-da-boom here it is. I've written so far ahead for this story, but editing is just a real stinker. I hate proofreading.**

 **Thank you so much to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. I really, really appreciate it.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 7: Interrogations**

Amazingly, Logan had managed to quickly get through the meet and greet, without leaving a rushed impression on the crowd who had come to see him.

People wanted to see him to either meet the Huntzberger heir for the man that he _was_ when he was notorious for bringing shame upon his family as the black sheep of the Huntzberger's, _or_ , they wanted to see the man who he is _now_ known as for managing to rise from the ashes and successfully rebuild himself not once, but twice.

Either way, within an hour, both Logan and Elleigh were sitting in the back of his limo, being driven out of New York and away from the city, headed for the small town of Stars Hollow in Connecticut.

In between small talk and throughout the three hour drive home, both Logan and Elle had used the opportune time together to subtly interrogate each other on their secret suspicions.

"So... you said that your mom didn't know about your little adventure, hey Nancy Drew?"

Elle looks down to her feet before her gaze meets Logan's with a sheepish head-shake.

"Have you been to New York before today?" he asks conversationally to change the focus of the discussion for the guilty nine-year-old.

"Yeah..."

Elle's face lights up as she remembers the day with her mother.

"We went into the city. We didn't have a lot of money, but we went to Central Park to feed the ducks, then we went to the museums and the New York library! Our special treat for the day was that mom and I got ice creams **and** hot dogs!"

Watching the little girl intently as she speaks, it brings a smile to Logan's face. Not only can he see her happiness at the simplest things in life, a lesson to be learnt for himself, but he watches the way she speaks and the way her sparkling blue eyes light up when she's talking about something she's enthusiastic about. He notices the way that she nods just a little, almost like she's agreeing with herself, when she's speaking about something that makes her happy.

So much like Rory...

As nice as it is spending time with her daughter, as nice as it is feeling like he's with spending time with Rory again even just a little, there's a sweet sadness as he listens to what she's saying.

Of course Rory would have struggled as a young mother; after all she would have been just fresh out of college. Sure her family was from money, but of course she wouldn't have taken handouts... That sounds just like Rory; it sounds just like her mother.

But, despite sympathising for his ex-girlfriend and her daughter, he knows that what the two may have lacked in money there's no doubt that it would have been made up for in love and support. The polar opposite of his own upbringing; lacking love, lacking loving parents, but by making up for it with his parents buying both he and his sister's love and affection.

As she stops speaking and sharing her memories with him, he looks over to the young girl who's sitting on the other side of the limo. Logan watches her contently looking out the window and watching as the road speeds by.

He just sees so much of Rory in that little girl. So much of his Ace...

He lets them fall to a silence once again; still trying to grapple with the fact that Rory is a mother. That, _right there_ in front of him, is her daughter.

However, after a short while, it's Elleigh's turn to raise the next question, to pump Logan for the answers that she wants.

"Logan? I saw photos with you and my mom jumping with those umbrellas and wearing costumes and things like that. Why did you and my mom stop being boyfriend and girlfriend like you used to be?"

The question instantly panics Logan, not that he doesn't know what the reason why they broke up is, but rather, he doesn't know how to put it a child, especially _her_ child without making it sound negative, which their breakup had been from his perspective. No matter how he felt, he doesn't want to make Rory the bad guy in the story he tells her daughter.

"Um, well, your mom and I, uh, we um couldn't agree on something."

Elle crosses her arms in front of herself, sitting up a little straighter in her seat as though she senses Logan's cop-out of an answer; she's onto him.

"Well, _I've_ always been taught to keep trying and find compromises with my friends when we can't agree on something."

"That is a very good thing. It's best to try and find a compromise with people, Elleigh" Logan begins to say, fumbling with words that just fall out of his lips without much thought as he works on how else he can say to gently explain the situation to the child in front of him.

"But, you see Elleigh, the thing is that there wasn't really a compromise between what we couldn't agree on. One person would be happy and the other wouldn't and your mom and I loved each other enough so that we didn't want the other person to compromise and be unhappy."

Elle sits there for a moment, thoughtfully pondering Logan's explanation before she just shrugs.

"Well, I still don't think that that's a good enough excuse. Keep thinking of a better one."

Logan has to hold back a smirk. He can't help but be impressed by the child beside him. Not only is she perceptive enough to _recognise_ that he is trying to skate around an issue, but she is also confident and bold enough to call him out on it.

However, despite how impressed by her perceptive skills and detective work he is, Logan still decides to try and lead the conversation in a different direction, this time asking Elle a question that is on his own mind.

"Hey, how old are you Elleigh? When's your birth date?"

"I'm nine. My birthday is on the twelfth of December."

Logan nods, trying to appear carefree and as though he isn't frantically trying to do the math, determining what month you get when you subtract nine months from the twelfth month of the year; while simultaneously remembering what month Rory's graduation and their breakup was during the same year.

... Okay, that makes it around early to mid-March. He and Rory didn't break up until mid-May...

His theory is not impossible. However, there are still a lot of question marks surrounding his theory, regardless.

After all, he had been back and forth between the US and the UK at that time. Logan may have been oblivious that there was another man in Rory's life at the same time. Not to mention, if he _is_ right, then _why_ is he only working this out for himself, now, nine years on? Why wasn't he informed at the time?

He itches to ask that question, but he knows that it's not appropriate. He can't just ask the nine-year-old in front of him whether she has a father that's in the picture. He can't just ask her who her dad is. He can't just ask her whether or not _he_ is her father. No... No, he has to save those burning questions that little bit longer for Rory.

A silence falls between the two until Elle looks out the window of the limousine, noticing where they are and panicking at how close they are to approaching their destination.

She can't have gone all that way and she can't have gotten herself into all this trouble without any success. So, she quickly asks Logan straight out what she has been trying to determine all day.

"Excuse me? Logan? Are you my dad?"

The blonde man is momentarily startled by her question, especially since he too has been trying to determine the same answer to the same question.

However, he just looks at the little girl sadly, releasing a small sigh before trying to respond as gently as he can.

"I don't know the answer that question... I'm sorry. But, whoever your father is, is a very, very lucky man, Elleigh."

An initial sadness spreads across Elle's face at the fact that after everything, she's still no closer to the truth. She has no outcome from her scoop. _But_ , then the rest of Logan's response brings a smile to Elle's lips as her face lights up.

Seeing the effect it has on the child consequently lightens his own mood, bringing a smile to his own face.

"Was that why you came to the city? Why you came to see me, Elleigh?"

Elle just looks outside the window, suddenly seeming sheepish. It's as though, without the confirmation that she is looking for, her 'scoop' and her idea seems silly.

While Logan doesn't push when the little girl doesn't answer his question, he does have a pretty good idea of what the answer is, going off of her body language as the silence returns between the two of them.

The next thing they know, the limo has pulled to a stop and Elle jumps out of the limo, racing to the front door as Logan follows behind suite. The child knocks and the front door loudly, before rattling the doorknob impatiently until finally the door is opened, following the biggest gasp of relief.

"Elleigh!" Rory exclaims the second that the door is opened, instantly hugging her. Tears of relief fill her eyes as the weight of the world, her greatest fears are instantly removed as soon as she holds her daughter's body in her own.

After a good, solid minute, the child grows impatient and squirms from within her mom's grasp and the two release each other. It is only now when Rory realises that she and Elleigh aren't alone and it's only now that she notices the familiar, blonde man standing beside them.

" _Logan_? What on earth are you doing here?! _Why_ is she with _you_?"

* * *

 **This chapter was originally a little shorter than this, but I added a bit to it to lengthen the conversation a little more. Don't worry. There is plenty of Logan and Elle coming up. And Rory and Logan too... Most of the upcoming chapters start getting longer and longer, too.**

 **As usual, I'd love to know what you thought of this one and also if there's anything in particular that you'd like from this story or you'd like me to try and include. More townies and more characters are going to be included in upcoming chapters too.  
**

 **Next chapter: As Elle faces the music for her actions, will Rory be forced to, too? The three spend some time together after the events of the day. **


	8. The Big Question

**Another chapter in under a week! I'm getting good at this, ha ha.**

 **Anyway, as always, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I can't believe we've passed the 100 mark already! You honestly have no clue how much I appreciate the feedback and fact that you spend a few moments to not only read, but review my story too.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 8: The Big Question**

" _ **Logan**_ _? What on earth are you doing here?!_ _ **Why**_ _is she with_ _ **you**_ _?"_

In the few seconds that it takes Logan to answer, Rory attempts to brainstorm a potential reason as to why on earth her daughter -who had skipped school this morning- is now being returned home by her ex-boyfriend. Her mind runs a blank as to _any_ possible reason.

Every passing second feels like hours as Rory helplessly tries to piece it all together, working out where exactly Elle had disappeared to and why Logan had brought her home.

"Hey, Ace..."

Despite the fear that is still evidently etched into her face after the stressful day she must have had, Logan can't help but crack a small smile at her presence. After nearly ten years, it's still a novelty factor just to see her.

"Don't worry; I'm just here to bring her back. I was doing a seminar/meet-and-greet in New York and she came to see me... You're going to have to ask the little lady why though. I worked out that you didn't know she was there, so I brought her back."

Rory looks down to her daughter, as if to confirm that she corroborates the bizarre story; still stunned as to not only _why_ she had traveled all that way to see him of all people, but also why she had done it without telling her. She liked to think that she and Elle were as close as she and her own mother are.

"I'm sorry, mom. The website said it was a one day event and I didn't think that you would let me go."

In that moment, Rory sees a streak of her daughter's father in her; the streak of courage that sets Rory and Elle apart from each other when it comes to going after what they want.

"We'll talk about that later because right now I'm too relieved that you're safe to tell you off for it" Rory says, giving her daughter another hug as she takes one more deep breath of relief before Logan interrupts the girls. "I better leave you two to it and hit the road."

"Come in for a drink. I owe you that much as a thank you for making the three hour trip just to escort her all the way back here."

Logan looks at Rory warily, giving her a second chance and an opportunity to cop out.

"Are you sure? I was planning to just drop her off and then head straight back into the city..."

Rory simply nods decisively as she closes the door behind him to affirm her point that he isn't leaving until he lets her thank him.

"Elle, can you put some coffee on? I'll be back in a second. I just have to call my mom to let her know that you're okay so that she can call off the search party and tell Miss Patty to pass the message on."

Elle shows Logan the way to the living area of the small home. In fact, the living area is also shared between the kitchen, dining and lounge areas of the home, all meddled together in one, open room.

As Logan trails behind the nine-year-old through her home and from the front door to the living area, Logan keeps an eagle eye and takes note of every detail, especially every photo that he can catch a glimpse of as they move through the home.

Studying every small detail, he notices a big pink, painted 'E' hanging on a closed door which Logan can assume must be Elleigh's room. He notices Rory's Yale Diploma hanging proudly on a wall; a memento that she received on the last day he had seen his ex-girlfriend before seeing her again at grandfather's funeral, nearly ten years on.

Then, there are the framed photos that Logan tries to observe especially intently, the photos that are scattered across the walls and surfaces...

He sees the photo of Rory beside a younger-looking Elle, the two standing in front of a school sign; presumably marking Elleigh's first day of school...

He sees the photo of Luke and Lorelai with their arms around their granddaughter, the two girls wearing silly expressions.

He sees the photo of Elleigh with a big, toothless grin missing her two front teeth.

Then, he sees the photo that he finds the most startling; one of the oldest photos and one of the first photos of the mother and daughter.

... What he finds startling is that Rory looks exactly the way he remembers her looking. It's the Rory he remembers from their college years. She looks like the Rory he said goodbye in the gardens of Yale, but in the photo she is fresh-faced and glowing, proudly holding a teeny, tiny baby in her arms on a hospital bed.

Mind you, it's no wonder that she looks the way that he remembers her as; the way he has pictured her every time he has thought of her for almost a decade before meeting again just recently... After all, the photo would have been taken just seven months after the last time he saw her. Just seven months after the day they parted ways.

As they reach their destination further in the house, Elle speaks up and interrupts Logan from his thoughts and analysis of the photograph.

"I thought that she would be more mad than that" Elle says honestly, confiding in Logan as he takes a seat on the lounge, looking around and taking in the small room of the house that the mother and daughter share as the child brews a fresh pot of coffee. She knows exactly what she's doing with that pot of coffee; _definitely_ a Gilmore girl.

"Like your mom said – wait till later. It might be a different story then."

Elle gives Logan a dramatic, scared grimace that makes him chuckle before they are distracted as Rory walks back into the room, phone in hand.

"Your glam-ma says hi, she told me to give you a big hug and warned you that you're in big trouble the next time you see her for sneaking off on the one day that she dropped you off. So, in her words, she said you owe her 'a trillion foot massages', Elle" Rory explains, relaying the message to her daughter as she takes over from Elle where she's making the hot drinks in the kitchen.

"Glam-ma?" Logan just questions at the unusual word, although he can assume what it is referring to.

"My mom. She taught Elle to call her 'glam-ma', instead of grandma or nanna anything else that she thought made her sound too old. Originally she tried to teach her to call her 'Marilyn Monroe', so really 'glam-ma' is a big improvement."

"Clever. Very Lorelai..." Logan says with a small smile, considering the fact that his ex-girlfriend's mother does not sound any different than the woman he knew nine years ago.

As Rory brings the three cups over from the kitchen, she hands her daughter a hot chocolate who grumbles about the fact that she isn't allowed a coffee so close to bedtime, then she hands the second cup to the male in the room, before letting out a little gasp.

"Sorry... I didn't check what you wanted. I can make you another drink" Rory apologises, realising how quickly she had fallen into old habits without even realising it.

"Is it black with two?" Logan checks regarding the hot beverage that he has just been handed. Black coffee with two sugars had been Logan's standard hot drink during his college years.

Rory nods in confirmation, understanding that not everyone's drink of choice stays the same after nearly a decade, but Logan just cracks a smile that she slowly reciprocates.

"Perfect. Thanks Ace."

Growing a little flustered, Rory suddenly turns to her daughter again and mentions more of the detail that her mother had told her about during the brief phone call.

"So, Elle... Just to reinforce _how much_ trouble you're in, wait until you hear what effort the town has gone to to try and find you after your little adventure... _Everyone_ in town spent the day scouring Stars Hollow and the neighbouring towns, all the way to and past Hartford. There are rosters, maps, fliers and schedules. Taylor's setting up a fundraiser to raise the money to pull in either the C.I.A., or a private investigator. Not to mention, your face is on thousands of fliers that they've put up half the way to New York."

Elle sighs at what she's caused from what she just viewed as a simple minor misdemeanor, crossing her arms in front of herself unhappily.

"All I did was miss a day of school and catch a bus! Kirk should have mentioned that he saw me! After all _he_ was driving the bus!"

"Don't try and put this on Kirk, young lady, even if he should have worked out that you were skipping school. It is Kirk after all."

"... Well, I kinda told him it was a pupil free day..."

"Elleigh! Kirk is going to be in _so_ much trouble with his mom now."

Kirk Gleason is the only forty-something-year-old man to _still_ get grounded by his mother.

"I'm sorry... I thought that I'd get into the city, go to the meet-and-greet and be on the bus back home just an hour after school finished. But Kirk drives slow so the bus was running late and-"

As Elle is going through all her excuses, Logan intervenes and cuts in, shouldering some of the blame too.

"It's partly my fault, too. She would have been home a lot earlier than she was if she stuck to her plan. I realised that she was there on her own and that you didn't know. So after she called you to tell you she was safe I made her stay by my side until I could wrap the meet-and-greet up and take her back. I couldn't just have her jump on a bus and hope that she got home safe."

" _And_ he got me food! In a limo! Have you ever gotten drive-thru food in a limo?!"

Listening to the recount of the afternoon from the duo, Rory has to bite her lip to stop herself from smiling from the inappropriate timing. However, Rory can't help but acknowledge –albeit to herself- just how well and how maturely Logan had handled the situation. He'd done the right thing to take her home _himself_ , rather than to hand her over to some strange P.A. or lackey. Also, he'd done the right thing to get Elle to call her first to let her know that she was safe and okay, rather than just waiting until he brought her home.

However, Rory doesn't let herself linger on these thoughts before moving onto Elle.

"It's getting late. You better have a shower and head to bed, Houdini. There's no chance you're skipping school tomorrow. I'll be escorting you into school, to your desk and then posting Steve and Kwan's grandma, Mrs. Kim, as a sentry until 3."

Elle sighs unhappily as she gets up from the lounge that she'd been sharing with her mom. Maybe Logan had been right. Maybe she _hadn't_ gotten off scot-free just yet.

"'Night, Logan. Thanks for taking me home... You're pretty cool."

Logan smiles at the compliment, waving the younger girl off. Her comment means more to him than what he would have thought. He stands up and prepares to leave since Elleigh is going to bed and considering that Rory's invitation had served its purpose and he'd finished the drink that he had come in for.

"Thanks, Elleigh. Have a good sleep. Now, try not to sneak off to Las Vegas tomorrow... at least for your poor mom's sake, yeah Nance?"

A wild grin fills Elle's lips at the joke and his reference to her as Nancy Drew once again as she says a final goodbye to the two adult's before heading to the bathroom for a shower.

"So..." Rory says uncomfortably now that she and Logan are suddenly left alone, without the third person buffer.

Just moments ago, Logan had figured that he would leave straight away. However, now that he has the opportunity, he suddenly has a burning desire and urge to confront the issue that's been on his mind ever since a certain little girl had approached him -on her own- at the meet-and-greet.

"So, you have a daughter... Congratulations. She's beautiful, Ace."

A sudden discomfort and awkwardness comes over Rory as she uncomfortably and unconfidently looks down at her shoes and the timber floorboards.

"Thanks... She's a good kid."

He _had_ been planning to do more research before confronting her with the question that hasn't shifted from the fore-front of his mind. He _had_ been planning to look up birth notices to try and determine if a father of Rory Gilmore's baby had ever been mentioned. He _had_ been planning to determine if she'd had any other boyfriends or men in her life shortly after him. He _had_ been planning to do more digging and _then_ , if need be, he _had_ planned that he would confront her.

But, he had spent the entire afternoon with the young girl who had skipped school, taken a bus to an unfamiliar place just to see him and just to talk to him, to try and find out what he now _needs_ to determine, too... The same beautiful, intelligent and confident little girl that by his calculations and by what he has determined so far, who could very well be half of him.

He just has to know... _now_.

So, after Rory's last response, Logan takes a moment and he pauses, taking the time to work up the courage as he runs his hands through his neat, blonde hair, before he eventually locks eyes with her. Logan knows that he'll be able to read the truth from her, even if she doesn't say it.

"Rory? Is she mine, _too_?"

* * *

 **The truth is nearly out! Finally! But, where will things go from here? When he knows, will Logan want to be a part of their daughter's life? Will Rory let him?**

 **I'd love to hear everything and anything you have to say about the last chapter.**

 **Next chapter: After the confrontation, how will Logan react? The LDB boys are here! Elle surprises Rory.**


	9. Nowhere To Run

**Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. I really love and appreciate the feedback. I am still completely astounded by the response to this story!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 9: Nowhere To Run**

" _Rory? Is she mine,_ _ **too**_ _?"_

Rory is Logan's Ace. 90% of the time, she is 'Ace' to him.

In fact, he only uses her name selectively the other 10% of the time and at the most appropriate moments; like if he is trying to reassure her or when he is serious about something. In this instance it is the latter.

The ironic thing is that Rory has spent the last decade thinking about what she would say, how she would say it and what words she would use to tell Logan that he has a daughter. But, now the truth is out without her even saying _one_ word.

In response, but before she even says a word, she just looks at Logan silently as she tips her head a little; as if asking for or seeking some understanding from the man standing in front of her.

"Logan..." she begins to say, trailing off. While her words might not be answering Logan's question yet, her body language and the expression etched into her face, the guilt in her eyes says it all for her, instead.

"Then why the hell didn't you _tell me_?"

Logan's eyebrows tighten and furrow unhappily, but he manages to keep his calm, despite how furious he is feeling on the inside in this moment. To Rory, he just looks hurt; betrayed, even.

With one final look in Rory's direction, Logan just shakes his head and storms out of the small home, following the hallway back to the front door which he had entered around twenty minutes earlier. Twenty minutes before his life turned itself upside down after asking just _one_ question.

"Logan! Just stop for a minute. Let me explain" Rory calls frantically, trying to stop the blonde in his tracks.

"You've had ten years to explain, Rory. Excuse me if I'm not quite ready to hear it right this second."

She sighs.

He's right.

 _She_ made the decision to keep him in the dark, now _he_ can make the decision to not hear why she did so. She doesn't have a leg to stand on and if he doesn't want to talk, she can't force him to. So, she just stands there from the sidelines, watching as he climbs into the limo that he had returned their daughter in as it speeds off and away from Stars Hollow.

#

The moment that Logan jumped inside the limo, he pulled his phone out and made plans to meet up with his three closest friends and fellow Life and Death Brigade members; Finn, Colin and Robert.

Since Finn and Colin were already out drinking in New York together when they got Logan's call, they simply collected Robert from his apartment before all three boys hit the road to meet Logan at a pub halfway between New York and Stars Hollow.

As soon as they got the call, the boys knew that something was up with Logan, but it's only after the first round of drinks when anyone musters up the liquid courage to raise the issue and ask the question.

"So what's troubling pretty boy today?" Robert asks, surprising all three of them with the fact that he is the first one to bring it up.

"Has daddy dearest struck again? You don't have enough money in your account to afford a factory full of Bentley's? Lady dramas? I volunteer to sort _those_ out" Colin asks, adding to Robert's question.

"I'm a dad."

"What's head honcho done now?" Finn asks with a grimace after mistaking Logan's statement: ' _I'm a dad'_ for ' _my dad'_.

"No, not _my_ dad... I _am_ a dad."

There's a lethal combination of too much alcohol consumption and too much noise in the room. None of the three boys quite understand what Logan's trying to say. They don't quite get that he's just not reiterating the same thing that they are until Logan uses another keyword to convey what's he's trying to tell them.

"I have a daughter."

" _Flamin' hell_...' and ' _Wow_...' are the two exclamations of shock from Finn and then Robert, consecutively, when Logan's three friends _finally_ comprehend what he's been trying to tell them. Colin then raises the next question after the shock begins to subside.

"So, who's the baby momma?"

This sets off a flurry of conversation among the boys, before Finn quite succinctly summarises a conclusion.

"It has got to be reporter girl from Yale. Our dearest Rory Gilmore."

"That's the one. Who else..." Logan confirms before trailing off with a sigh.

Robert smirks, reading Logan's sarcasm as a challenge that he is ready and willing to rise to.

"Who else could it be?... Is that a trick question, Logan?"

With a light slap in his direction, Finn silences Robert's cocky tease to focus on getting more detail on what the main story here is.

"How old is she? I didn't know you guys had hooked up lately!"

"I haven't seen Rory since she graduated. Our little girl's nine... I would have been twenty-five when she was born."

While Logan and his three friends are known for their antics, regardless of how inappropriate they may be, the three boys stay silent in this particular moment.

Their collective silence acknowledges the fact that Logan's just had his world upside down and that now is not the appropriate time to make jokes that they normally would. Now is not the time to joke about that poor kid having a dad like him or laughing as they imagine all the bad traits that the poor girl could inherit from him. Rather, they just stay silent until Colin raises the next question.

"Nine... You have a _nine_ -year-old and Rory never told you? Hell... Do you know why?"

At the sore point that his friend has just raised, Logan takes a mouthful from the scotch in front of him before answering.

"I have no idea. I didn't hang around long enough for Rory to explain herself before I left. I'll call her in the next few days, but I just couldn't hear whatever her reason was today."

Finn can see the pain in his friend's face, so he quickly says the first thing that comes to his mind to try and spin the conversation into a more positive light.

"Well, let me just say now that Uncle Finny _will_ be the favourite uncle."

Finn's typical comment sets off a chain of competition between the three men -if you can even call them that- as the pounding in Logan's head just grows harder and harder.

He had come here to drink. He had come here to stop feeling all the pain that's flooding him. He had come here to _forget_ that Rory's spent nearly a decade keeping something this big from him. Or _someone_ , rather.

"Fellas, I don't care _who_ her favourite uncle is. I don't even know what's going to happen from here on. I don't even know if Rory is going to let me be a part of her life now since she never did for the first nine years. I'll cross that bridge if I come to it, but my point is I came here to _forget_ about it - not sit around _chatting_ about it. If I wanted to have a chat about it, I would have met up with my sister, instead."

"You heard the man!" declares Finn, instantly standing up to make the next round of drinks happen.

#

After several rounds of drinks, it's while Colin is pursuing a waitress and Robert is off fetching the next round when Finn and Logan finally have a quiet moment alone.

Finn scoots over to the bar-stool closest to Logan. The boys heads are looking down, closing in on the bar-top that they are sitting at. With their alcohol consumption from during the evening warring with gravity, they are both being pulled down. Fortunately, not looking at each fortunately acts a buffer, stopping the conversation seeming too intimate and personal for men.

"Mate, I know you said you don't want to talk about it, but how are you really doing? A kid, that's pretty heavy, but a _nine_ -year-old?..."

Finn and Logan have been best friend's since kindergarten. Sure, for the most part, the fact that their friendship is the longest and the deepest among the boys rarely reaches the surface, nor does it have any impact on the dynamic between the four boys when they are all together.

But, in this moment and despite his intoxication, Finn _knows_ that Logan's hurting. While he might not always let on, Finn knows Logan like the back of his hand. He knows that Logan needs a friend and Finn knows that **he** is that friend that needs to be there for him right now.

In response to Finn's question, Logan does not utter one word. Yet, a brief glance in his direction shows Finn _exactly_ how Logan is feeling... How shattered he is. Finn hasn't seen his best mate like this and in this state since the day that the same woman broke his heart almost ten years ago.

Seeing this and reading his friend, Finn just claps a hand onto Logan's shoulder supportively. "Enough said, mate... 'Nuff said."

#

Long after Logan had left and the limo had driven off, Rory stays standing outside; just standing there and thinking, trying to wrap her head around the events of the day before she has to enter the home and play the adult again.

Within the last twelve hours, her day had started off as normal, then she'd faced the worst fears of her life after learning that her daughter hadn't made it to school and even worse that she was missing. Then, the relief of Elle returning home was filled with puzzlement as she learned that not only had _Logan_ returned her home, but she had been the one to go and see _him_. Then, before leaving and just to top off one-hell-of-a-day, Logan asked her about the secret that she had spent the last nine years concealing; with a lot of evidence mounting up in favour of his suspicions.

It has been a whirlwind of emotions and right now, Rory just needs a few minutes to catch up again, to be able to keep pace...

#

When Rory takes one final deep breath of the fresh air outside, she returns inside her home and she heads straight for her daughter's bedroom.

"Has Logan gone?" Elle asks as soon as her mother enters her bedroom, looking up from the book that she has her nose in. Tonight it's Ally Carter's ' _Heist Society_ '.

"Yeah, he has hun."

Elle's eyes just return to her book as she nods in response. However, Rory has other plans, as she takes a seat at the end of her child's single bed where Elle is trying to busy herself with reading and attempting to avoid what's coming next.

"So let's have a chat about today..." Rory gives her daughter an unimpressed look to indicate that _she_ will be doing most of the talking.

"Do I need to tell you again how disappointed I am in you for running off to New York like that? Not to mention, do you know just how reckless that was?"

Elle shrinks into her bed a little more, pretending she's still reading when really she had stopped as soon as Rory began speaking.

"I'm sorry... I just had one chance and I didn't think you'd let me go."

Rory doesn't admit that her daughter is right and that - _yes_ \- there is no way that she would have let her daughter go to New York to see Logan, with _or_ without her, if she had of known.

"So why did you even go to New York to see him in the first place?"

"I did some research... I saw that Logan was going to be doing a talk and meeting people in New York and I wanted to go and see him, so I went."

Elle speaks so simply, so carefree, that it's almost as though she had **just** stole a cookie from the cookie jar as opposed to ditching school and catching a bus to the city on her own like she had done.

"But _why_ , Elle? I still don't understand _why_ you snuck off like that... I still don't get _why_ you went to see Logan."

"Because... Well, because I thought that I had a story -a scoop- and I wanted to be like _you_."

Rory is instantly puzzled. This is clearly reflected on her face and expression. Elle sees this, so she continues speaking and she continues explaining herself before her mother has a chance to ask her more questions to clarify.

"... I wanted to see him because I thought that he's my dad."

Elle just shrugs as she explains her theory that she had pursued, as though it is nothing. Meanwhile, Rory is rendered speechless at the very same theory.

As her world of secrecy unravels itself even more, Rory realises that she has nowhere to run from the truth.

In fact, the truth has outrun her.

 _... She should have always known it would._

* * *

 **I know it must seem like forever before Rory and Logan will talk it out, I'm sorry! I just couldn't imagine Rory explaining the last nine years on the same day that Logan learned he's a father, with Elleigh just a room away. I think Logan's head would have exploded. Anyway, that big, long chat is coming very, very soon though...**

 **I loooove the Life & Death Brigade. They'll be back again later on in the story. Who's your favourite LDB boy? I think at one point or another, each of them have been my favourite, but you just can't beat Finn. I may just be a little biased as a fellow Aussie. **

**Next chapter : Rory seeks Lorelai's advice before extending an olive branch to Logan. Also, we have a flashback to the day Elle was born!**


	10. Like Father, Like Daughter

**CHAPTER 10: Like Father, Like Daughter**

" _... I wanted to see him because I thought that he's my dad."_

 _As her world of secrecy unravels itself even more, Rory realises that she has nowhere to run from the truth. In fact, the truth has outrun her._

After her daughter dropped the bombshell of her theory and after Rory is rendered speechless, she realises that she has to at least recover from the shock for long enough to be able to escape from the room.

"We'll talk in the morning, Elleigh. Sleep well" Rory says, trying to sound as calm and as relaxed as she can while her heart pounds and thumps from within her.

Rory can't get out of that bedroom fast enough.

By the time that she has her phone in her hand and makes a phone call on autopilot, her heart is already racing and her breathing is raspy. After she scrambles with her phone and then for the favourites icon of her contacts there's a " _hi hun_ " through the line within seconds.

"Mom?" Rory cries through the phone, sounding equally weak and scared.

"Rory? Rory, honey, what's wrong?"

At the sound of the weakness and fragility in her daughters voice, Lorelai instantly worries. Her stomach plummeting until she knows and receives conformation that both her daughter and her granddaughter are okay.

Rory finds enough composure to manage to find a lighthearted-spin on her predicament before she speaks again.

"Mom..." She chokes out with a little exasperation. "You know that saying 'like father, like daughter'? I'm living it right now..."

"What do you mean?"

Rory can hear the confusion in her question, even over the phone, before she begins clarifying and answering her mother's question.

"Tonight, both Logan and Elle have asked me about the other. They've both worked it out. They know that they're father and daughter."

"Whoa. Hold on. Back track a bit. Explain this. _How_ exactly have they worked it out?!"

Rory sighs and collapses onto her lounge, ready to give her mom the full story and explanation that has led to both her ex and her daughter catching onto her.

"Okay, so we saw Logan at the funeral. Elle has asked me a couple of odd questions about him since then. A few days ago she asked if we had been together... It turns out that she had been trying to be a junior journalist. She had started piecing it together and she thought that she had found the scoop; she suspected that he was her father."

There is a surprising moment of silence over the phone line, highly unusual for Lorelai, until she lets out a long and drawn out: "Ohhhhh..." before she continues speaking.

"So when Elle went missing today, that's why she ended up with him, is it? Did she manage to get in contact with him and go to see him?"

"Not quite. She found out that he was in the city, doing some sort of meet-and-greet. So she went to see him there, I guess she'd been planning to do more digging for information, and then he recognized her from the funeral and realised that she was alone."

"Well... Your kid certainly has more nerve than you. You would _never_ try and sneak off... Even when you were old enough and I let you walk around the town on your own, you didn't want to; you wouldn't."

Rory simply scoffs at her mother's remark. It's times like this when she wishes that her daughter takes after _her_ more than she takes after her father, having inherited the same wild streak as him.

Lorelai doesn't expect a response from her daughter after her last teasing comment, so she continues questioning further.

"How about Logan? How did he work it out?"

"I don't know... I didn't even know that he was onto it. He never said what tipped him off. My only guess is the fact that she turned up at his event and then from the details that he collected when they had a three hour drive home to talk is what tipped him off. He just asked me after Elle went to get ready for bed and he could read me before I had a chance to say anything or explain."

A silence falls between the mother and daughter across the phone as Rory sighs, suddenly feeling exhausted, while Lorelai tries to muster up an appropriate remark of what to say and tell her daughter, _without_ using any inappropriate analogies or references, which is far from what Rory needs in the moment.

However, before Lorelai has a chance to respond, her daughter releases another heavy sigh before speaking once again.

"Mom... Everything's coming apart... Actually, it's already _come_ apart. Everything I worked so hard to maintain and keep together. Now that he knows, what if Logan decides that he _doesn't_ want to be a part of her life? What if I'm just going to expose Elle to everything that I worried about and everything that I tried to protect her from?"

"Hun... It's out of your hands now. You've done a good job with Elle on your own for so many years. You've done what _you_ thought was best for her. But, you knew that this day would come. You knew Elle would want to know about her father one day. And unfortunately, it's Logan's decision to make now. Whether or not he wants to be in her life now that he knows about her, it's up to him."

There is yet another sigh from Rory.

"I know that I can't deny it and I have to face this now. Not that I have much choice in the matter anymore, but I do owe the truth and an explanation to both of them..."

#

 **12th of December 2007**

" _She's so beautiful hun... My favourite granddaughter by a long shot" Lorelai muses as she gazes adoringly at her newborn, firstborn grandchild._

 _Rory just rolls her eyes at her mother's comment. She's endured a lifetime of 'favourite child' jokes from her mother, which have **already** transferred to her own daughter apparently. Yet, nothing can wipe the smile off of the new mother's face. _

_Elleigh begins to whimper soft, small cries so Lorelai hands her back over to her own daughter since Rory had warned her that she will likely need a feed soon._

 _As the new mother holds her daughter protectively, she can't take her eyes off her, lovingly._

" _She looks so much like him, mom. Sure she has our eyes, but other than that, she's all Logan."_

 _Lorelai just smiles a little. She can't deny her daughter's words. She didn't know Logan as well as she knew Dean, but Lorelai could tell that Rory is right. Looking at the tiny, newborn baby, it is already evident who her father is just by looking at her._

" _Remember that time in the early days? We were coming out of Friday night dinner one week when my dad had been grilling you about Logan and you were denying you were anything but acquaintances? Remember, mommy told you it was important he was good looking..."_

 _Rory chuckles at the memory, the joke her mother had made all those years ago before her mother and her would-be boyfriend had even met. "Now that you mention it, I do remember that... I'd forgotten all about it."_

" _Well at least baby daddy had his looks going for him..." Lorelai chuckles before her mood becomes more serious, suddenly. "Speaking of, will you be giving a particular new father a phone call, or will you be paying him a visit? You know, let him know that his family tree's expanded. I know that you didn't want to tell him when you were pregnant, but now that he's a father? At the end of the day, it's your choice... but shouldn't he at least **know** about this beautiful little girl?"_

 _Looking down at the baby in her arms as she listens to her mother, Rory just sighs. She feels like she has spent the last six months thinking about the baby she has only just now met and thinking about that baby's father._

 _She has poured hours into imagining all of the 'what if's' of if she says something and what if she doesn't? Where will either situation land her in 5 years? 10? What if he wants to be a part of her life? What if he doesn't? What if his family makes their life hell? What if she raises her daughter without her father? Would she be saving her from all of her fears or only inducing them?_

" _I know that he needs to know about her and a part of me is dying to show Logan what we made... But, I keep thinking about it. What should I do, what shouldn't I do?... What impact every decision that I make will have on Elleigh. So, I've concluded that I can't tell him right now. One day, yes, but just not yet..."_

 _For as many pro-con lists as she writes and for as much time she spends contemplating and imagining every potential scenario, there is only_ _ **one**_ _way how Rory can know Logan will act. But, the thing is that once it's out, it's out._

 _Rory respects Logan; not to mention, a part of her still loves him. But, for all the spontaneity and bravado that she loves about Logan, she knows that consequently, she can't depend on him. She can't guarantee that he'll be all in, she can't guarantee that he'll always be there, as much as he might want to._ _Yet, that's exactly what their daughter's going to need... She's going to need love and stability, and at this stage, Rory knows that that's what she can give her, but she doesn't know if he can provide that, let alone if he will even want to._

" _I've thought a lot about how I think Logan would react. Logan's a good guy... I think that he would want to try and do the right thing, but I don't think he could. As much as he might try to convince himself that he can do it, he would struggle after a week. I know from experience that a father who comes and goes can do more harm than good. Not to mention, we both know how he messed up a few months back. Heck, the whole world knows and to me that just proves that the old, uncommitted Logan is coming back... That's the type of Logan that couldn't be a good father right now, as much as he might want to."_

 _Lorelai's nods briefly, before her face hardens and becomes a little more serious. Rory notes her mother's pout of disapproval, but she knows that it's not her place to say a word to sway her daughter's decision. Rory knows how her mother feels about her decision and even more so, she knows how her step-father, Luke, feels about her not having told Logan thus far._

" _It's your choice, Rory, but whatever you do from here on and whatever decisions you make, just remember that it's going to have repercussions; good or bad. You will have to face the music one day, to Logan_ _ **and**_ _Elleigh."_

 _Listening to her mother as she gazes at her daughter, she responds with the one big factor that outweighs almost everything else; Rory's one big fear._

" _The thing that scares me the most is what if I tell him or what if he finds out and he doesn't want anything to do with her? How am I supposed to tell my little girl_ _ **that**_ _?"_

#

That same question that Rory had pondered over nine years ago is the same question that has been ringing through her mind since Logan had posed the question of her daughter's paternity... _Their_ daughter's paternity...

As she changes her phone to speakerphone from where she'd been talking to her mother, she continues using her device, finding the phone number that had called her mobile earlier to let her know that Elle was safe and with Logan in New York. She finds that number and starts a new message while Lorelai continues speaking over the phone, the words not even computing with Rory.

' _Logan, I hope this is your number. It's Rory. Can we meet sometime? We need to talk..._ '

She has to cross that bridge now that she has come to it.

She decides that she will meet with Logan, give him the explanation that he deserves, see where he is at and what decisions he makes with his new knowledge of being the father to a nine-year-old girl.

While she knows that she can't keep the truth forever and that Elle will have to know who her father is one day, Rory decides that she will wait for Logan's decision before telling Elle.

That way, if he decides _against_ being a part of her life, she will try and stall that explanation for a few more years and hold off a little bit longer to avoid her daughter going through the pain of her father not wanting to know her.

However, if Logan does decide that he wants to be a part of Elle's life, well, now that will just unleash a whole _other_ can of worms...

* * *

 **Thanks again for reading another chapter of my story. I really hope you enjoyed it. I have been loving writing this story, expanding to the Gilmore girls world and fandom as well as establishing Elleigh.**

 **Next chapter: The talk! Logan and Rory talk about the past, their mistakes, where to from here and most importantly, Elle. **


	11. It's Not Right, But It's Okay

**CHAPTER 11: It's Not Right, But It's Okay**

Three days have passed since Elleigh's escapade.

Just three days since Logan and Elle _both_ confronted Rory about one another.

Just three days after Rory messaged Logan to arrange a time to meet up is when she finally meets up with her ex.

* * *

When Rory arrives at the restaurant that Logan has suggested that they meet at she quickly learns that he is already there after she spots his familiar frame among the room filled with tables and chairs. Rory isn't even late for the meeting. In fact, she too is a few minutes early for their 10 AM meeting.

As she approaches the table, her nearing footsteps catch Logan's attention. He turns his head to check who it is, instantly standing up to reach her chair on the other side of the table first, pulling it out for her.

"Thank you" she says quietly as he pushes in Rory's chair as she takes her seat at the table, unable to pull her eyes away from him.

The usually polished young man looks anything but. Sure, he's wearing his typical neat, formal and undoubtedly high-end attire, but beyond _that_ he looks anything but polished. He has stubble beginning to grow and spread across the bottom half of his face. His eyes look red and blood-shot while his under-eyes look dark and heavy. From the clues that those two factors give away, Rory can tell that Logan looks exhausted; like he hasn't slept in days.

"So... I guess that you're going to want to talk about our daughter?"

Logan realises that this is the first time that Rory has _actually_ acknowledged the fact that they share a daughter, aloud.

The night that he had raised his suspicions and asked Rory outright, she had never _actually_ confirmed that, yes, yes Elleigh is his daughter too. But, then again, she never said that she isn't, either. Logan had been certain enough to jump to a conclusion from her expression and the fact that she didn't even try to deny it, but he could have been wrong. Really, just now is the first time that she is _actually_ confirming his strong suspicions.

Since Logan has become distracted by what Rory is saying, he doesn't immediately realise that he hasn't actually said anything in response to what she said before she continues to speak, not waiting for him to respond.

"Now just let me say something first of all. Now that you know, it doesn't have to change anything. You don't have to be a part of her life out of obligation. I am fine with continuing to go it alone. We are doing just fine and I am perfectly capable of raising her on my own."

"Well maybe you should have sought my opinion on that in the very first place..." he mutters under his breath, before exhaling a tired yawn.

"What?" Rory asks, her eyes squinting a little as though she is trying to listen in to him more intently.

When Logan realises that she hasn't heard what he said the first time, he feels like he's just been thrown a life-line and a second chance to back out of what he's just said. After all, being aggressive, even passive aggressive, is going to get him absolutely nowhere with Rory.

"It's nothing" Logan quickly says, before changing the subject to the question that he has wondered countless times over the last few days; the question that he is dying to know the answer to.

"So... Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me when you found out you were pregnant? Why didn't you tell me that I have a daughter at _any_ point over the last nine years?"

Rory sighs, briefly trying to beckon a waiter that hasn't yet served them, first. It feels _way_ too early in the morning and she feels _way_ too sober to delve into the intense explanation that Logan is asking for. At least if she can do something about the latter issue...

"Okay. Let me preface this by saying that I am sorry. I have always tried to deal with this issue and deal with Elle the best that I could and however felt the best at the time. You have to remember a lot of time has passed and I didn't have the hindsight that I have now. You just have to know that while I might not be right, I always tried to do what I _thought_ to be best at the time."

In the time that it has taken Rory to preface and lead into beginning her explanation, a waitress has come up to the table to ask for their orders. Both Rory and Logan courteously order a meal and drinks that are heavier than normal for your _typical_ 10 AM.

"I didn't know that I was pregnant before we broke up, I promise. I only worked it out about a month later... All of my symptoms were too easy to misconstrue for the stress of exams, the Obama trail and our breakup. I considered telling you as soon as I found out -I really did- but I felt like I needed a bit of time to wrap my head around it and come to terms with it myself, first. Then, I had just been getting ready to tell you, in fact, I had been looking up flights to go and tell you and-"

Rory is cut off from her explanation when Logan jumps in, feeling confident enough that he can fill in the blanks and conclude her sentence for her.

"-And then you heard about what I did, didn't you? ... _Of course you did_... I shouldn't be surprised. It was plastered all over the news until the next big scandal came along and finally pushed all the headlines about me out of the way."

Rory sighs at what she has to say next, seeing Logan and his expression as he sits across from her. She can see his shame in himself and his actions etched clearly into and plastered all over his face. Yet, if she wants to be honest with him, then that means rubbing a bit of salt in the wound of his past actions.

"I _was_ disappointed in you. When I saw the news, I was ashamed of what you did. You had come so far and I knew that you were so much better than that, but you ended up all the way back at square one... I didn't just decide to keep Elleigh from you _because_ of that reason and _because_ of that whole scandal, yet I didn't think that the type of Logan I first met was ready for fatherhood just yet... But, there's more to it than that."

Rory pauses for a moment and sighs, before inhaling a deep breath as she looks down to the table. She can't bear to meet his gaze; she can tell exactly how he feels. Logan simply waits during the brief silence. He is not happy. His eyes are straining intently and his eyebrows are furrowed tightly.

However, he can't deny that Rory has a point. The Logan that she first met, the Logan he reverted to after they broke up, that Logan would not have been a decent father.

"Honestly, Logan... I'm ashamed of _myself_. I had always planned to find you and tell you one day. I thought I'd wait a while, maybe a year, just to let the dust settle after your scandal and _then_ I'd tell you about her. But, the longer I left it, the harder it got... It just snowballed; and that's all on me. I never meant for it to happen this way and I honestly never thought that it would take nine years for you to know, but it just spiraled out of control and I didn't know how to come back from that."

As she dares to look up and sneak a glance of his expression, she can see his increased pain, undoubtedly from what she has just told him. So, she continues speaking and explaining, to at least try and help him feel a little better.

"My dad was always in and out my life. He was in my life out of obligation because he knew that I existed, but he wasn't reliable at all. I didn't mind it mostly, but I always found myself wishing that he was either in or out. As much as I love my father, sometimes I wished that for all the time that he was absent from and out of my life, I wished that he didn't bother flitting into it occasionally. I didn't want that for Elle. It's not an excuse, but it was just something else that caused my hesitation to tell you; the idea that you weren't all in or all out."

"To be perfectly honest, Rory, that wasn't your decision to make... We aren't your parents. We weren't sixteen. Not to mention, you never even gave me the _chance_ to prove myself otherwise... I know that I made mistakes after I proposed. I know that I shouldn't have pushed for all-or-nothing after I proposed. I know that I was a complete idiot and I know that I screwed up big-time after that, as you and the rest of the world well knows. But I also know that I at least had the right to _know_ about my daughter. You were entrusted with our daughter, with my child, and you broke that trust."

Rory sighs and looks down to her lap as Logan explains his perspective after she had the opportunity to give him hers.

Suddenly, now that she's hearing things from his viewpoint, Rory feels nothing but guilt. Guilt has always niggled in the back of her mind through all these years, but it was easier to blot out when she was thinking about her and considering her decisions that she made, thinking it was best for Elleigh.

Rory struggles to say anything to Logan in response. Rather, she just silently watches as he sighs, his head collapsing into his hands, like he can't hold his head up anymore with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"Three years, Rory! We were in a serious relationship for nearly three years, for crying out loud! I was ready to step up. I was ready to be your _husband.._. Honestly, I would have completely understood if you didn't think I was ready for parenthood not long after we'd first met, if this had happened then... _But it didn't_."

There's a bitterness in Logan's voice. It's like he can't contain the feeling of being wronged, the injustice of the situation, yet he well knows that flaring up at Rory will only make matters worse. He keeps his composure and he remains in control of himself, but he manages to convey just how angry and how seething he is.

However, not only is there bitterness within Logan, his voice and his eyes, but there's also a deep pain. A pain that seems to slice deeper within him each time speaks, the more he lets himself think about it.

All of a sudden, Logan's exhaustion and tiredness from days of lacking sleep begins to set in, while Rory still hasn't said a word, just taking in everything that he has to say, guiltily.

"Do you have any idea how it feels to find out that you have a child that is _nine_?! How it feels to only just meet your child who is just a few years off being a teenager?! Do you know what it feels like knowing that you have missed nine years?! No... No, you don't know what that feels like because _**you**_ had the privilege of being there and _**you**_ took that privilege away from **me**. I missed an enormous part of that girl's life. I missed being there the day that she was born; I missed holding her, promising her that I'd look out for her for the rest of her life... I missed my daughter's first words, first steps, her first day of kindergarten, school... "

Logan is bitter. He's hurt. But, more than anything else, he's heartbroken. Not only has he missed nine years of his own daughter's life, but it was Rory, the love of his life, who had willingly kept it from him as though he wasn't wanted or needed in their lives.

"I missed out on an enormous amount of that girl's life and there's no way to get that back."

He pauses for a moment. Rory still hasn't spoken since when another thought clicks in his head. Another theory he needs to confront to be able to move on.

"You were ashamed of me, Ace, weren't you? You didn't want me to be a part of her life... You didn't want me to be a part of _yours_ anymore."

He can feel himself getting worked up the more he says and the more that he thinks about what he's saying. So, finally, he takes a deep breath and gives Rory, who has just released a sigh, the chance to speak.

"Logan, I wasn't ashamed of you. Like I said, when I first found out I was pregnant I had to clear my own head. Then, before I had a chance to tell you your life had enough going on with the little scandal you got caught up in. But, I did actually try to reach out to you one day. I went into your work... I was ready to tell you everything."

"What? _When_?"

"Elleigh was two and a half months old. So, it would have been pretty close to exactly a year after the breakup. It was the day she smiled for the first time... I was so proud, so excited and I just wished that you'd been there to see the smile that looked exactly like yours... It just felt like you should have been there. I wanted you to be able to share that feeling too. While I'd been coping and while I was doing okay on my own, that was just a point when I realised that you should at the very least know about her."

Logan just looks at Rory with disbelief, searching for the explanation to try and piece together what had happened between that point many years earlier, to now; now that he has only just learnt of the very fact that she had apparently tried to tell him many years ago.

"What? _What happened_? If you came to see me that day, how come I never saw you?"

"I went to your work. I'd been waiting in the office. Then, after about half an hour of waiting your receptionist received a phone call and then asked me to leave... I assumed that she was passing your message onto me, asking me to leave. I don't blame you, but-"

Rory is cut off as Logan's jumps in and intervenes, a horrified look on his face.

"What? I wouldn't have said that! I had no idea that you'd _ever_ come into the office before now. Even if I was having bad day or even if I was busy, I would have at least come out to see you, Ace. Even if it was just to find a better time to meet up. I would have done anything to just see you; to just accidentally bump into you somewhere, let alone if you'd come to see _me_... I actually got pretty pathetic, every time I was in a crowd, every time I was in Hartford, every time I was somewhere there was even a vague possibility that you might be too, I was on the lookout like a hawk, hoping to just _see_ you... Look, I have no idea what happened that day. I have no idea why you were sent away. I'm sorry, Ace."

Rory sighs. For the last nine years, from her perspective and solely with her side of the story, she had felt justified in her actions. Despite the niggles of guilt that Logan should at least _know_ about Elle -up until the last few weeks- she felt at peace with the fact that her daughter's father simply wasn't a part of her life. After all, she had tried once and she had been rejected... But now, with the second half of their story being told she feels a sudden surge of guilt for not telling him as soon as she knew, for not trying again and for not trying as hard as she could have, whether she felt justified or not.

"After I got sent away that day, I felt rejected. I felt like I just had to move on. Remove the idea of you wanting to be a part of her life out of my mind and just get on with raising Elle alone. I know I could have tried a bit harder to reach you and at least tell you, but after that happened I just couldn't go back there again... That rejection, combined with my other hesitations of telling you and my worries about us repeating my parents path, well it was just too much. Again, I got stuck with that spiraling effect, where I just lost control. It blew out and the truth got too hard to face."

A silence falls between Rory and Logan as the ex-lovers just take a few minutes to digest what each other has had to say with the information and facts being shared.

Walking in there just an hour earlier Logan had felt indignant and Rory had felt justified in her actions. Now, with history being rewritten everything felt blurry and unclear.

"So where do we go from here?" Rory eventually asks, speaking up, asking the question that has been on her mind the most since Logan confronted her about Elle's paternity. "If you want to be in her life, I'm not going to stand in your way. That's the least I can do after everything. But, I can only hope that Elleigh's sake, you're all in."

"I want to be a part of her life, Ace. I want to know her more than anything else. I want to make up for all that lost time. I want to be a good father to her. I **will** prove myself."

Rory nods at Logan. A little smile nearly spreads itself across her lips. Logan, his declaration of commitment and the serious expression on his face reminds her of the day they went from being casual to becoming boyfriend-girlfriend.

She knows that Logan means what he says. But, most of all she knows that he is capable of whatever he sets his heart to.

"You don't need to prove anything to me. It's _Elle_ that you're going to need to prove yourself to and prove that you're there for. But, I am confident in you."

Sitting across the table from each other, the two of them share a warm, genuine smile before Rory continues speaking, after another wave of guilt floods over her again.

"Logan? I hope that one day you'll learn to be able to forgive me for this. I _am_ sorry for the way things worked out. When I first decided to keep my pregnancy from you for just a little bit, I never imagined it would end up being ten years that I'd keep you in the dark for... I'm sorry."

Logan just nods. He accepts her apology, but he can't quite accept the result of her actions yet. There's still too much damage that's been done. He'll working on the forgiving, but forgetting is too far of a stretch.

"I want to get along with you and I want things to be amicable, comfortable even, for Elleigh's sake, but it's going to take a lot of time for me to be able to trust you again, Ace. Right now, I don't even know if that's achievable."

"I understand. I'm not going to hold you back from making up for lost time with Elle and I am happy for you two to properly meet up and spend time together. My only condition is that so long as she is happy with that and as long as she wants to."

"No worries" Logan says with a nod of confirmation. "That seems reasonable. I wouldn't want to force her if she's not interested or uncomfortable with us spending time together."

A silence falls between the two of them, before Logan looks up to Rory. Even before he says a word, the sadness, the pain written on his face breaks her heart to see it.

"For what it's worth, I would have done everything in my power to be there for you. For _both_ of you..."

They return to silence.

Despite Logan's lingering ill-feeling from being kept in the dark and Rory's guilt after realising that her version of events was only half of the story, there is a kind of peace now that everything is out in the open.

There is the hope of a fresh start, a new chapter...

* * *

 **Longest chapter of this story so far; there was a lot to get through there!**

 **I'm sorry if you were expecting more anger/outburst from Logan. It might be more mellow than you guys were expecting, but I had a few reasons behind that. First, they were in a public place. I couldn't see Logan screaming at Rory in a restaurant at noon. Second and more importantly, I tried to show some character development, unlike in the revival (cough, cough). Although he has every right to be seething at Rory, I tried to portray that Logan's grown up and he's matured enough to recognise that it'll do him no good getting into a screaming match with Rory. It won't bring back those lost years and that would not make things easier with Rory. Rather, he needs to focus on changing the path from this point on.**

 **Also, I hope I haven't made too many Rory haters, whoops. Personally, I don't agree with what she did, either, but if I did, it wouldn't make for much of a story, ha ha! However, I really wanted it to seem like she didn't keep Elleigh from Logan maliciously or out of spite. She just thought that she was doing the right thing to keep it from him at the beginning and she never intended for it to spiral into nine years from that.**

 **Next chapter : Rory and Logan bond over Elleigh and Rory comes clean to her daughter. **


	12. Moments Of Truth

**Before we get onto this chapter, than I just say the biggest thank you to all you lovely, lovely readers. The feedback that I received on the last chapter was phenomenal and overwhelming. It means so much to me that you're all supporting this work and enjoying reading the story as much as I am enjoying writing it. _Thank you_.**

 **Also, just quickly, there was a few reviews that mentioned and speculated on the day when Rory went into Logan's work, with the intention of telling him about Elleigh. Now _how_ that day went down is something I have a very clear vision of in my mind. I've been thinking about including it in the story as a flashback... I haven't written that _yet_ , but is that something you'd like to read and get a glimpse into? Maybe not?**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 12: Moments of Truth**

After their meeting that morning, Rory and Logan ended up back at the mother and daughter's home.

Logan had asked to see photos of Elleigh as a child and Rory, ever the proud mother, had been more than happy to show off photos and stories of their child.

"So here's her school photo from last year. There's Elle. Remember my friend Lane? She and Zach's boys are in the same class as Elleigh" Rory says as she points the set of Korean identical twins out. "Steve and Kwan are Elle's best friends. It's very sweet."

Logan nods initially, but it doesn't take long before a look of horror floods over his face.

"Boys, Ace? _Boys..._? You let her hang out with _boys_ already?"

Rory gives Logan a carefree shrug and screws her face up in a little smirk.

"They're _nine_ , Logan. I'm not quite sure what you think they get up to –actually, maybe I don't want to know- but let me tell you, it's usually just board games and movies."

Logan shudders once again, the horror on his face going nowhere.

"I'm still not cool with it. Boys can't be trusted you know. Not to mention _two_ of them. I've been there done that. It goes from hair-pulling, to kiss-chasey to puberty. It's all bad news. _Especially_ with our girl..."

Rory rolls her eyes once again at Logan's sudden over-protectiveness, without having any basis for it. So, she ignores it and tries to move the subject along, onto something else. She pulls Logan's focus back to the scrapbook of Elle's life that she had _tried_ to make a few years ago; _tried_ being the operative word... After all, a Gilmore's _crafty_ skills aren't exactly related cutting and gluing...

Pointing to particular points on the page that has a few photos of Elle and clippings from last year, Rory shows it to Logan.

"This is a short piece she wrote last year. She's into her writing, she enjoys it, but she's more into reading."

Logan looks over the piece closely. While he tries to avoid it, after many years in the writing industry and editorial world, Logan can't stop his eye from critiquing pieces of work. He can't _help_ but do it with his own daughter's even.

"She's good... I don't even need a touch of fatherly bias to say that. I'm impressed. She has quite a different writing style to you, its more-."

Rory cuts Logan off and finishes his sentence, even if it's not the words that he was going to use.

"... More like you. She has a very similar writing style to you. I've thought that ever since she was in reception."

Logan's mouth drops open with amusement. Rory never had any problem cutting down his ego. Then again, more often than not, bringing Logan down a few notches was called for.

"Are you saying thatI write like an eight year old?"

"Oh no... I wouldn't pull Elle down to your level" she says jokingly with a light-hearted shrug as Logan just grins back at her, far from offended.

He has always found it amusing whenever she insults him, jokingly or not. After all, how can you stay offended at someone who earnestly tries to call you a 'butt-faced miscreant'?

Logan looks back to the page and notices one other detail on the lined white paper which had been last written on last year. Seeing ' _Elleigh Gilmore_ ' scrawled on the top right hand corner of the page, a sudden realisation strikes Logan.

"Elleigh... Elias and Leigh... Her name's a meld of our middle names, isn't it?"

Rory nods in response to Logan's questions. "You're right... To be quite honest, I don't think that she likes her name very much."

"Well, I do."

As a small smile spreads across her lips, Rory can't hide the fact that she is impressed that he worked out the small detail on his own.

"Well done... You're the first person to make that connection without any prompting. It's a bit of an inside thing - most people wouldn't get it. I even had to explain it to my mom. She thought I'd just chosen Elleigh randomly like she'd chosen Rory. It was only when Elle turned one that I realised that she didn't get it and so I explained it to her."

"I should hope I would connect the dots and get it... It _is_ half of my middle name, after all."

The two share a small, subtle smile. It's a special little moment. After all these years, they're talking about their daughter freely and Rory's heart has melted just a little after he made the connection between Elleigh's name and their own. That in itself is like a little inside secret.

However, as Rory makes the mistake of glancing down at her phone, her face screws up and she lets out a little gasp at seeing the time. The moment instantly draws to a close.

"Oh shoot. I better go and pick up Elle from school. I would ask if you wanted to come, but I think I need to talk to her alone first... Mind you, she already asked me about you. She thought she'd found a 'scoop' and she asked me outright if you are her father. I need to come up with a better way to explain all to her. I think I'm going to try and explain it all to her as gently as I can. It's going to be a massive transition for both of you and she's only nine. If you're happy with that, it might mean a bit of drip-feeding her information."

Logan nods at what Rory says as she rushes around picking up her phone, purse and a few other essentials.

"She asked me the same thing, too. The dad thing, I mean."

"What? When?!"

Despite the fact that she had been frantically racing around her living room just seconds earlier, after hearing Logan's comment, she pauses, frozen on the spot as he shares this detail with her.

"In the car on the way home from New York. She just dropped it on me like she was just asking what the time was."

"Yeah, well, she's a smart kid..." Rory says with a sigh. "Sometimes she's too smart for her own good. She's smarter than I was at her age. I'm sure she's going to be smarter than the both of us."

The two share another smile before the fact that Rory had been getting ready to leave sinks in again. Logan gathers up his wallet that he'd put on the coffee table as he and Rory head for the front door again until Logan stops just before they reach the threshold.

He holds his hand out to just gently touch Rory's wrist, the touch being just enough to get her to stop and stand still for one moment.

"Hey, I'm glad you told me everything, Ace. When I stop and think about it, I still feel pretty bitter that it's taken you this long to tell me about Elleigh. I can only hope that feeling will ease off over time. But, thank you for telling me, anyway. It might feel like its nine years too late, but I'd rather be told _now_ than in another nine years time."

Rory sighs and looks to the ground guiltily. How she has managed to get through the last nine years, especially the last few, with little consideration of Logan and the fact that he deserved to know about their daughter amazes her, and not in a good way. One thing is for sure and that all the guilt has come flying down for good measure _now_.

"Logan. I _am_ sorry... I should have told you. You should have known before she was even born. I thought I was protecting Elle in case you weren't ready initially and then in case you weren't interested in being a part of her life or if you were just going to come and go when it suited you. But, I think I was trying to protect myself, as much as I thought I was trying to protect her. I thought I was making the right decision and doing the right thing for us at the time, but, looking back, I think I was wrong about that and all I can do is say sorry for the nine years that you missed. I know sorry isn't nearly enough..."

He doesn't say a word in response. With a sad smile, Logan just touches Rory's arm, giving her shoulder a little squeeze. There aren't really any words for what she has just said. He can't just tell her ' _it's okay_ ' when it's not yet. However, he doesn't want to remind her of the fact that yes she's right, yes she should be sorry and yes everything is not okay; knowing that will only make it worse.

So, instead, she is working on righting the wrongs of the past and he is working on getting past it, forgiving the woman in front of him and focusing on building a future with his daughter... _their_ daughter.

#

"Did you have fun?" Elleigh asks her mother with a grin as the two youngest Gilmore girls stroll through the front door and into their small, two-bedroom home.

Elleigh had been at school all day, but she knew that her mother was meeting 'a friend' in the morning. And, judging by the fact that she noticed her mom change outfits _five_ times before they left the house this morning, Elle had a pretty good guess as to which 'friend' she was meeting.

"It was fine. It was just a meeting" Rory replies neutrally as she puts her handbag down before immediately heading to the coffee machine, checking there is an adequate amount of coffee and water to serve its purpose before letting it work its magic. "We need to have a bit of a chat by the way, Missy."

A look of terror initially spreads across Elle's face as she momentarily stops to think about _anything_ that she may have done recently to be caught out on.

... Nope, there has been nothing extraordinarily notable lately that is worth a 'special chat'. _Phew_... Unlike the time that she and the Van Gerbig boys went and changed the decimal point of everything in Doose's, to reduce the value and cost of everything in the shop.

Feeling quietly confident that she's not in for a lecture, nor will she be getting in trouble for anything in particular, Elle follows Rory over to their lounge suite. The mother and daughter take a seat beside each other, sitting in similar positions with one leg comfortably tucked under the other on the lounge.

"So... You have been asking a lot of questions lately, young lady. I don't know exactly why you've been so inquisitive about certain topics, but that's beside the point. I need to tell you a story."

Elle squints at her mother curiously, but she doesn't question it. She _thought_ that she had outgrown story time many years ago.

"Once upon a time, there was a young couple. They loved each other very much. But, one day, one of them said something that made them realise that they had different focuses. The couple still loved each other a lot, but they knew that they wouldn't be able to find a compromise that would make them both happy."

"Huh... That's the same thing Logan said about you guys."

Rory presses a finger to her lips to hush her daughter's interruption. However, she does make a mental note to go back and find out what Elle had meant and find out when exactly Logan had said a similar thing about them.

"Shhh! Anyway, back to the story. When they knew that there wasn't a solution that would make them both happy, they broke up on the day of her graduation. Then, a little over a month later, she got a surprise that would turn out to be the best news in her life... She found out she was having a baby. There were a few complications and a little bit of confusion and both of them made mistakes. She made some really big mistakes and-"

"I was right... Wasn't I, mom? Logan _is_ my dad... Isn't he?"

Once again, Rory's daughter is three steps ahead of her. So much for the anonymity and effort in her manner of trying to story-tell it to her daughter. Sometimes Elle is just far too perceptive for her own good.

"Yes, Elleigh... Logan is your father."

Elle pauses for a moment. Initially a smile spreads across her lips, with the smile radiating through her eyes; _exactly_ like her dad.

"Wow... _Wow_..." Then, after the initial grin and the smirk that celebrates the fact that she'd been right all along, her expression turns more serious. It's like she's thinking deeply for a minute, letting the news and the impact that it has on her life sink in and process within her.

When Elle appears to return to the conversation, as though she's thought it all through, she then looks at her mother; as if she's seeking more of an explanation from Rory who continues to speak.

"So, _that's_ where I was this morning... Logan and I were talking. He wanted me to ask you whether you'd be happy to meet up sometime because he'd really like to spend time with you and get to know you, sweets."

"Tell him yes. I'd like to meet up with him sometime. I'd really like that. I want to know what he's like."

Rory nods at her daughter's decision.

While she is primarily pleased by how well the father and daughter seem to be receiving each other so far, a little part of Rory can't help but worry.

She can't help but think how the situation can go _terribly_ wrong from here... The father and daughter might not like each other. They might not gel, or get along. One of them may like one person while the other one can't stand them. Or, worst of all, Logan might not come through on his promise to be the best father he can be.

Suddenly, Rory can't help but worry as she realises that the time has come for her to relinquish the reins, to relinquish some of her control to Logan. Their daughter deserves that. _He_ deserves that.

 _Logan_... Peering over to look at Elle, Rory watches her as she appears to be thinking deeply as she looks around the room, with a little smile forming as she thinks. Rory unleashes a breath, noticing just _how much_ her daughter looks like Logan in that moment.

"You don't know how much you remind me of him, Elle."

The younger girl smiles at her mother's remark before Rory moves a hand to her daughter's head, affectionately stroking a loose lock of blonde hair, tucking it behind her ear and out of the way.

"So you're all good? This is a really big thing, Elleigh. Do you have any questions? Anything else you want to say or ask me for now?"

Elle appears to ponder her mother's question seriously, although only for a moment before she replies with a little smile.

"Well... I'm sure I'll have more questions for you later; I just need to work on them first. But, secretly, I have kind of been hoping that Logan's my dad... He seems like a pretty cool dad to have. I'm excited to get to know him."

"I think you might be right about that, sweets..."

The mother and daughter share a smile and Elle announces that she better look over her schoolwork. But, she has a test tomorrow, along with a bet in place with Steve and Kwan that she will get a higher grade than the boys. The nine-year-old is carefree and blase, as though it's just an ordinary afternoon and as though it's every day that you find out who your father is.

However, before she walks off, Elle stops and turns back to Rory with one final, cheeky remark.

"By the way, there were a lot of blanks in that story – there's _no way_ you could get that published, mom."

* * *

 **I hope you all like this chapter. I'm sorry it wasn't up a little sooner, but I haven't been perfectly happy with the Rory & Elle chat so I've just tried to play with it a bit over the last week. I wanted Rory to tell Elleigh _more_ in this chapter, but I found it difficult to find the balance between telling her more, making sure she didn't overload Elle with life-changing information (despite how smart a Gilmore/Huntzberger hybrid is, Elle's still only nine after all!) and not messing with the plot of how the rest of the truth will be revealed to Elle. **

**Now, rest assured, Elleigh WILL know the whole story in time. Rory doesn't get off scot-free. Elle's definitely not just going to leave the matter there. There's a lot of big questions that are going to be simmering away in the back of her mind and pretty soon she's going to be thinking about where her dad's been all her life and why. Like she said to Rory, she will have more questions, she just needs to think of them first, haha. **

**Next chapter : Logan and Elle meet for the first time knowing that they are father and daughter!**


	13. First Impressions

**Quick authors note. Thank you so much to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. I know I say that every chapter, but I never mean it any less. I'm sorry this wasn't up sooner.**

 **Also, after I put the question to you guys of whether or not you'd like a glimpse into what happened that day when Rory went into Logan's work, there was quite a lot of interest in that idea. Since then, I actually found a little spot where I feel like that blends in well, so you'll get to read that flashback in around chapter 17-18.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 13: First Impressions**

After Rory's conversation with Elleigh, she sets the plans in place for her daughter to meet her father, _properly_. Just three days later, Logan is back in Connecticut and arriving in Stars Hollow to meet up with Elle.

As the limo approaches the home, Logan is a bundle of nerves. Even though it's technically not their first meeting, he still feels beyond nervous.

... Jumping off of potentially unsafe scaffolding? _Easy_. Stealing a boat? _Done one too many times_. Learning how to be a father to a nine-year-old? _Terrifying_...

As he leaves his vehicle, thanking his driver, Logan slowly makes the short-distance walk up to the front door of the mother and daughters home, drawing long, deep breaths with every step he makes.

Even after he reaches the front door, he takes a moment before knocking; trying to psych himself out and convince himself that any reason for fear is all in his head. After all, Elleigh had gone to the effort of trying to find _him_ and they had to spend three hours together on the drive home from New York. Not to mention, they'd gotten on just fine and she seemed to like him then... right?

... Well, that was _before_ she knew that he is her father...

Logan the voices in his head, the fight between the positives and negatives, into silence by plunging into the deep end and finally knocking on the door of the home.

As he stands there idly, waiting, he can hear a squeal of excitement further in the home, along with five words that bring a smile to his face and give him the confidence that he needs.

"He's here, mom! He's here!"

Just seconds later, the door opens up revealing the beaming child on the other side of it. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees her mother approaching them from further in the house, too.

"Hello again Elleigh" Logan greets. Still standing in the same spot, he withdraws a bouquet of flowers from behind his back and hands the arrangement of white daisies, bright pink daisies and a few blossoms to the young girl.

A smile spreads across his daughter's face as she takes the floral arrangement that looks way too big in her small hands.

"Wow... Thanks! This is the first time I've ever gotten flowers. Only mom ever gets them."

Logan smiles. "I figured it's a special occasion..."

Elle thanks Logan for the flowers once again, before handing them to Rory after declaring she had no idea what to do with them. As Rory fetches a vase and fills it with water, Elle leads Logan into the lounge room where the three of them had sat and talked after her adventure to New York just a week ago. A _lot_ has changed over the course of that single week.

As Logan and Elleigh take seats on the lounge, Logan locks his fingers together as he rests his hands on his knees. Meanwhile, Elle makes herself comfy on the lounge, clearly much more comfortable in her own home than her father is.

Logan and Elle sit there silently, not quite sure what to say or do next about the elephant in the room. They smile at each other, a reassurance that they're not uninterested or uncomfortable with one another, but rather only the situation is uncomfortable.

"Thanks for meeting up with me, Elleigh. I'm not sure if your mom mentioned it, but I'd really like to spend time with you and get to know you."

"You know, you can call me Elle by the way. I feel like I'm in trouble when I get called Elleigh. But I'd like that too... A lot" Elle responds with a smile of confirmation which Logan reciprocates. Suddenly, he has no idea _what_ he had been worrying about just minutes earlier when he'd been cowering outside of the home and working up the courage to knock on the door.

However, despite the little break from the quietness, the two both return to silence, trying to work out what to do or say next as one of them learns how to be a father as the other learns what it's like to have a father. Eventually the silence is broken again as Elle speaks up this time, with a statement that faces the elephant in the room.

" _So_... you're my dad..."

Logan simply nods, giving the younger girl a smile of acknowledgement. He doesn't quite know what to say to her or whether that'seven the sort of thing that you should say anything in particular back to. He's only just getting used to that title himself. So, instead he takes her comment in a different direction.

"I feel like I need to introduce myself properly to you... So I figure you know my name's Logan Huntzberger. I'm 33. I have one older sister named Honor. She has two kids, which makes them your cousins. I'm one of the co-owners of a start-up business, but I also work quite closely with my father who has a few big businesses."

Elle nods at Logan's brief summary of himself and his life. She doesn't mention that she knows each of those facts after reading up about him and researching him when she was only suspicious of whether or not he was her father. However, she doesn't say anything about that before going on to compile her own in a few sentences for him.

"My name's Elle... Well really its Elleigh...spelled the most complicated way possible... _Actually_ , that's my middle name and my first name's _technically_ Lorelai, but I only ever get called by my middle name. I'm nine. I like the colour blue. My teacher's name is Mrs. Moore. I like reading... and parkour."

Logan nods at his daughter, absorbing every word and every fact she tells him. He takes mental notes to recall what she's saying, before he makes a light-hearted quip at her last comment. "Reading and parkour? That's quite the diverse range of interests you have there."

"Well I _like_ parkour, but mom won't let me practice much. It freaks her out. She says that it will land one of us in hospital."

Logan chuckles at the younger girl and her bluntness. "If it's alright with your mother and if you'd like to, I could pay for you to get some professional parkour lessons."

Elle fidgets uncomfortably a little. She had been raised with the same stubborn mindset as her mother and grandmother, not to take handouts, nor to be bought.

Logan senses her discomfort, but flails as he tries to determine _why_ she's uncomfortable after his suggestion.

"Don't worry. You don't have to. I can get you something else if you'd prefer. You said you like reading... Like is there a book or a series or anything that you want?"

Again, Elle squirms at the suggestion of Logan buying her something once again.

He can tell that she is still just as uncomfortable. He doesn't like it and he tries to fix it, but in the heat of the moment, with his nerves and in his panic he assumes that she just doesn't want either of those things. So, he begins to list other things which he thinks a nine-year-old girl might be interested in.

"What about jewellery? How about a necklace? Do you want a pet?"

After Logan lists off another ten or so things, he realises that she's really not interested and not comfortable with the idea of choosing presents. So, he tries remembering things that his niece is interested in. However, seeing as Indy is a few years younger than Elle, that doesn't work either and she either hasn't heard of or has no interest in ' _Shopkins_ ', ' _Frozen_ ' or ' _Peppa Pig_ '.

Sensing that Elle is uncomfortable, Logan flails and flounders under the pressure he's putting on himself for he and his daughter to have a good time together.

It's not that Logan's not trying hard enough. Rather, the issue is that Logan's trying _too hard_.

While things had initially been off to a good start, things are slowly beginning to go downhill, fast. Logan can feel it. He can feel the awkwardness growing and he can sense Elle's discomfort. So, trying to aid it he unintentionally only makes it worse and worse...

#

From where she is sitting and relaxing in her room as she browses through today's issue of the New York Times, Rory is interrupted when she receives a phone call from the last person she'd expect to see on her screen.

"Hey Ace, it's me" Logan says before Rory has a chance to speak a word.

"Logan? _Where_ are you?!"

Rory peers out into the lounge room where she had left him with their daughter nearly half an hour earlier. After she'd left to fetch water and a vase for the flowers that Logan had bought Elle, Rory had snuck off, leaving the father and daughter together, figuring it would be easier for them to talk without her being the third wheel.

"I'm outside. She's still in there. I just told her I had to quickly go outside and take a call. I need help. I'm floundering in there, Ace. I'm digging myself deeper and deeper into a hole. I could tell she was starting to feel uncomfortable so I started overcompensating and trying too hard and it started getting awkward... It was going so well to start with!"

Rory intervenes and interrupts Logan. She's never heard him sound so unstuck.

"Calm down, Logan. Just hold on. I'm going to go out there. Come back inside in just a minute. We'll talk then."

Rory hangs the phone up without waiting for Logan to say another word. She quickly drops the newspaper and her phone before she walks out to where her daughter is flicking through the channels from where she sits on the lounge.

"How's it going out here?"

"Good... Logan's just gone outside to make a phone call. I like him... I feel a little bit sorry for him. I think I scare him. The last couple of minutes I think he was getting a bit nervous and he tried too hard."

Rory nods, taking in her daughter's version of events. Unlike the way that Logan had made it sound, it seems that _overall_ the meeting has been going quite well and that Elle feels comfortable with him for the most part.

"Hey missy, do you think you should take a break and do your homework for a few minutes while he's not here? I'll explain it to him and tell him that you won't be long."

Elle sighs with a grimace. "I probably should... I kind of want to keep hanging out with Logan, though."

"Just for a few minutes, Elle" Rory encourages. "I'll tell him what you're doing when he comes back in and I'll say that you'd like to spend a bit more time together before he has to leave."

The nine-year-old just nods at her mother before she exhales a sigh, although she is fairly content with the compromise.

After Elle leaves the living area for her own room it's barely half a minute later when Logan opens the front door and returns to the lounge room where he meets Rory.

"Look at you... Hiding from a nine-year-old" Rory quips with an amused smirk.

A look of horror spreads across his face. "She doesn't think that I'm hiding from her, does she?! I'm not - _really_. Oh, I hope I haven't hurt her feelings."

"Relax. She just thinks you went outside for a phone call. I don't think it's going as badly as you think it is. She just told me she likes you. She's just doing her homework for a few minutes, but she was hesitant to leave because she said that she wanted to spend a bit more time with you."

" _Really_?"

Rory can hear the surprise in his voice as clearly as she can see the joy on his face.

"Really... So what happened? She said that she could tell you were getting worked up and nervous. That doesn't sound like you... You're one of the most confident and charming people I know."

"It was stupid... It went from parkour, to parkour lessons, to _Peppa Pig_ , to books, to offering to buy her a library. It started getting too quiet and I started trying too hard, then I listed off a whole stack of things that she's grown out of and basically offered to be a Genie and buy her anything her heart desires."

Logan's face scrunches up, cringing as it suddenly becomes clearer and more embarrassing how he realises that in the heat of the moment -with his rising nerves- he had tried to 'buy' his daughter.

"Oh hell... I screwed up. I'm Mitchum Huntzberger 2.0. I was trying to buy her affection. I guess that's hardly surprising since it's the only method of parenthood that I know... Well, that and shanghaiing but I figure the former would work better."

Rory takes a step closer towards him with a sympathetic look. "You didn't screw up, Logan. She said she could tell you were nervous. You were trying. _She_ could tell. That says more than you realise."

"I want to be a good father to her, Ace. I really do. I just don't know how to take the Huntzberger out of me..."

"Look. You had a bad example of a father. _Learn from that_. Look at your dad's example and think about what you would have liked from him when you were a child. Think about what you would have liked your father to do for _you_."

Logan nods at Rory's advice and counsel to him, taking it all in seriously... After all, she's had nine years of practice in parenting the same child so she must have some clue as to what she's talking about.

"Also, it's more important to just _be there_ for her... Listen to what she has to say, what she thinks and what she feels. Pay an interest in her when she has a good day and just be there for her when she has a bad one."

He continues listening, nodding and taking in every word that Rory is telling him. He also resolves within himself to spend the time and make the effort with his daughter, rather than splurging money on her. He realises he can't just buy Elleigh, her trust and her love; he doesn't want to. Instead, he knows that he has to earn it.

"Now, someone once told me something about you, Logan Huntzberger... If I remember right, someone once said that: 'if he _says_ that he can do something, he can do it. He likes trying new things'... Now, _this_ is something new. _This_ is something different."

Rory pauses from repeating her affirmations to her ex. A smile spreads across Logan's face as he recognises the familiar words that he'd told her about himself on the day that he agreed to be exclusive and the day that they first became boyfriend and girlfriend, all those years ago.

However, in addition to repeating what he had told her about himself all those years ago, Rory adds her own remark, her own observation about Logan to further his confidence in his own abilities in being a good father to their daughter they share.

"And what's more, _I_ believe that you can do it, too."

* * *

 **I know so many of you were looking forward to Logan & Elleigh's first meeting. I hope I didn't let you all down. It might not have gone as smoothly as you all might have liked (Logan & Elle included!), but there's plenty of time for sweeter scenes. To me, I couldn't imagine it being all smooth sailing as it's a pretty massive adjustment and Logan feels the pressure to not only build that relationship with Elle, but to also catch up on nine years. **

**So, I hope you liked it! I'd love to read all of your thoughts, feelings and comments on the chapter as well as what you'd like to see from here on.**

 **Next chapter: Logan  & Elleigh's relationship hits another hurdle... What leaves Elle so devastated? **


	14. Lead Balloons

**The biggest of thank yous to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter.**

 **I was quite worried about the fact that the last chapter with Logan & Elle's meeting didn't go as smoothly as you might have hoped that it would. But, that was what felt right and natural to me when I was writing it. So, thank you all for being so understanding, appreciating that life doesn't always go as smoothly as you wish. **

* * *

**CHAPTER 14: Lead Balloons**

The first official meeting of father and daughter had started off smoothly _before_ going downhill after Logan went into panic mode and tried to buy Elleigh's interest in him.

So, after that, the following weekend Rory had invited a nervous Logan to come down to Stars Hollow and try again. The plan for today is that Logan will take Elleigh out for lunch and they'll go for a walk around Stars Hollow.

Despite the fact that he _does_ want to spend time with his daughter, Logan feels certain that he is set to follow in his father's footsteps; that he'll prove to be a terrible father to Elle. Consequently, today, Logan feels just as nervous as the first day that he had stood alone on the doorstep, knocking on the door of his ex and his daughter's home.

After hearing the expected knock at the door, Rory is the first to reach it and open it this time.

"Hey, Elle will be ready in a moment. Do you want to come in while you wait?"

"Nah, I'm fine waiting here. Thanks, Ace. How are you?"

Rory has barely uttered the words " _I'm fine_ " before Logan is distracted when another girl -but not just any girl- enters his line of sight. Elle's presence brings a smile to his face, an urge that he can't fight and an urge that he can't resist giving in to. Half of Logan still can't believe that he has a daughter, while the other half can't resist beaming with pride that the little girl in front of him is half of him.

"Hi Elle..." Logan says simply, with the smile still etched into his face.

"Hi, uh, da-, um, Lo-, uh... Hi... _you_."

Logan suppresses a chuckle at the younger girl's evident discomfort over his title, before she is the one to mention what she just _tried_ to hide; despite failing miserably at doing so.

"Um, excuse me... What do you want me to call you? Logan? Mr. Huntzberger? _Dad_?"

"' _Master and Commander'_ " Logan quickly states with a wild grin in the direction of the mother of his child. Rory can't hide her smirk at the reference to the first day they had met.

Standing between the two smirking adult as they share the inside joke is their poor child. Elleigh has _no_ idea what in the world Logan's answer is about, nor why it is so damn funny.

"Sorry, I'm just messing around... Ask your mom about it later" Logan chuckles, clarifying to Elle as he sees the bemused look on the child's face before continuing to answer her question. "Seriously though, just call me whatever feels comfortable to you."

Elle nods at his response, mentally trying to determine _what_ her answer to his question would be... What title _does she_ feel the most comfortable with?

"I might just call you Logan, for now."

Logan simply nods in response.

While Logan had **said** one thing to Elle, deep down, he knows that he **means** another. _Really_ , he'd rather for her to call him 'dad'. In fact, he'd _love_ it... He'd love for her to feel comfortable enough to give him that title.

However, Logan also knows that it feels like that should be a title that is deserved and earned. So, maybe one day... After all, where's the worth in being called ' _dad'_ without truly being considered as one? He'd be little more than Mitchum, then.

"So are you ready to go?" Logan asks Elle next, trying to distract his mind from the Logan-versus-Dad title debate that's going on within his head.

Elle simply nods and turns back towards Rory, giving her mother -who is beginning to look worried at her daughter's departure- a hug.

As Elle and Logan step away from the front door of the mother-and-daughters home, Logan looks back to Rory, seeing the fear and anxiety written all over her face.

"Don't worry, Ace. _I've got this_. Besides, we won't go far. We won't even go out of the town" Logan says in an attempt to reassure Rory, while she focuses on trying to muster up a smile as she watches the father and daughter leave.

"So, where do you want to go for lunch, missy? I know there's not an abundance of options in Stars Hollow, but we can go wherever your heart desires in town."

As Logan poses the question to his daughter, they are barely out of the front yard when Logan feels his phone vibrate from within pocket. He checks the sender, before reading over the message.

 **Ace** : _Hey, just a heads up, but she's been really quiet the last day or so... Just so you know, it's not just you if she's like that_.

He constructs a text in response quickly and before Elle has even had a chance to answer Logan's last question: _Thanks Ace x_

"Um... Ummmm... Um, let's just go to ' _Butches'_ " Elleigh finally decides as Logan brows furrow just a little.

He's only been to Stars Hollow a couple of times, nearly a decade ago, but he can't remember anywhere called ' _Butches_ ' on his last visit. But, then again, what does he know? She's the local after all...

"No worries. Lead the way."

As the two blondes walk through town together, Logan attempts to make small-talk with his junior, but he feels like he can't quite get through to her...

It feels as if there's some kind of wall or some kind of obstruction that's stopping from getting through to her or that isn't letting him in. He isn't sure _what_ it is or _why_ it's there. Logan's still new to this fatherhood thing. But, he _can_ tell that there's something that is there, something that is resulting in walls being up and something that wasn't there the last time that he had hung out with Elleigh...

In attempt to try to combat and overcome the discomfort and silence with Elle, Logan has a whole game of twenty questions lined up although it is becoming more and more like trying to draw blood from a stone...

"So what have you and your mom been up to this weekend?"

"Not much."

"Ah okay. How was school?"

"Fine..."

"Have you watched any good movies lately?"

"A couple."

"Oh yeah? Which movies?"

"I'm not sure."

This is how the conversation goes until the father and daughter _finally_ reach the destination that Elle has led them to.

Looking at the vaguely familiar diner, Logan is sure that he's seen it and been there before, but ' _Butches_ ' still doesn't sound familiar.

"Oh... _Luke's_..." Logan exclaims as he reads the sign of establishment that the two are standing outside of, as Logan opens the door to the diner for his daughter.

"Sorry, I forgot that you wouldn't know that. He's my Grandpa Butch, so ' _Luke's'_ becomes ' _Butches'_."

Logan nods in understanding as he and Elle enter the diner. "You can choose a seat for us."

While Logan lingers by the door, he watches from afar as his daughter's face lights up at the sight of the man behind the counter of the diner, who happens to be midway through taking an order.

"Grandpa Butch!" Elle exclaims, racing over to the bench. Luke hands the order pad to Caesar, instantly focused on someone other than the patron. Customer service never has been the diner's strong point.

"Elle, sweetheart" Luke says with a grin equal to the younger girl's as she races into his open arms for a big, bear-hug.

Luke looks over to where Logan is standing, expecting to see someone else; expecting to see Elle's mother in Logan's place.

"Luke. Good to see you again."

"Logan..." Luke says, trailing off with an intense death-stare. He always had vowed to do terrible things to the man who had impregnated his step-daughter, but now is not the time or the place.

After the greeting and hug from her step-grandfather, albeit her _favourite_ grandfather, Elle waltzes over to the other side of the bench and takes a seat.

While Elle had said barely five words to Logan on the walk over, she is suddenly at ease as she conversationally speaks to the other man.

After a few minutes of talking to Elleigh, Luke shoots a glance in Logan's direction, looking at the third wheel in the trio.

He had heard from Lorelai the previous night how Logan was taking Elle out to try and give them some time to get to know each other a little better. He realises that he should try and leave the two to it; at risk of the wrath of Lorelai if she learns that he had intervened.

"Anyway, I better get back to it, Elle. Give me a yell if you need anything, sweetheart" Luke says with a smile to his granddaughter before taking his pad and paper back from Caesar again.

Elle just nods at Luke before she turns to look at the man sitting beside her; the man who she is being forced to face now.

"So what would you like for lunch? What are some of your favourites? I haven't been here in ten years so I might need some help from an expert to know what to order" Logan says with a smile in Elle's direction.

"Um, I like everything on the menu" Elle says succinctly with an added shrug before turning back to Luke. "Grandpa Butch? Can I please get a burger and doughnut?"

" _Of course_ " Luke exclaims before turning to the blonde man. "Are you getting anything?" Logan says he'll have the same as her, figuring it must be good enough for the regular to order it.

After taking the duos orders, Luke scurries off to the kitchen, leaving the father and daughter alone once again. Then, Elle notices as Logan opens his mouth to ask another question but before he has a chance to speak, she has turned around in her seat to speak to the man sitting at the table behind them.

"So how's Petal going, Kirk?" Elle asks conversationally, as Logan just shuts his mouth, pressing pause on the question he'd been going to ask.

"Petal's fine... about due for another bath. It's Lulu's turn this time."

Logan simply watches on for a few moments as his daughter makes small talk with the man, before he calls over his ex's stepfather in a loud whisper.

"Luke? Is it just me imagining it, or am I in the middle of a blizzard?"

"Not just you. I picked up on that too. She's reminding me of Lorelai when I'm in one of her ice ages. _What did you do?_ Cause I swear if you've said anything or done anything to hurt her, to hurt either of them, I'll-..." Luke trails off once again, when he realises that he doesn't want his doting granddaughter to be in earshot when he says those words to Logan. "... Just consider yourself warned."

Logan rolls his eyes. He knows that he hasn't done anything wrong and he knows that he could swear until he is black and blue in the face saying that he _hasn't_ done anything wrong and it'll make no difference. After all, Luke still hasn't forgiven Logan for catching him in a compromising position with Rory at her grandparent's vow renewal all those years ago.

Turning back to Elle, Logan manages to catch a gap in her forced conversation with Kirk.

"Elleigh? Have I said something to offend you or have I done something to make you feel uncomfortable?"

In response, the young blonde just shakes her head at him and instead turns to the menus this time, looking over it as her finger runs down the laminated page, acting as the latest distraction for her.

Meanwhile, Logan just sits there, watching her and wracking his brain to think if he's said anything or done anything today or since last week. She had been _so_ warm and so bubbly just one week ago. _What happened_?

Eventually the plates holding two burgers and two doughnuts are placed in front of them and the distraction of eating is welcomed to combat the awkwardness for just a few minutes.

Minutes later and once she's polished off her doughnut in half the time that it has taken Logan, Elle is just about to turn back around to Kirk to resume conversation when Logan catches her attention first.

"Elleigh, are you _sure_ I haven't done anything? I can't help but feel like you're upset with me... I'm sorry if it's anything that I've said or done."

While Elle has kept her ice queen persona up (strongly reminiscent of her great-grandmother Emily) throughout the course of the whole meeting thus far, when Logan apologises to her and pleas with her to explain to him, there's a little crack of true feeling when he sees the sad look on her face and in her eyes.

" _Elle_...?"

"Look, I just don't know why you want to be a part of my life, now - all of a sudden!" Elle abruptly says as the mask is ripped off and the frost thaws out while her true feelings are suddenly expressed. "Mom and I were doing just fine!"

Logan just looks at the younger girl, completely confused by her sudden change of attitude.

Just over one week ago, she had gone all the way to New York to try and meet him. Now, he is sitting there watching her as she gets off the stool and storms out of the diner. Logan doesn't delay in following suit.

"What? Where's this coming from, Elle?"

In the short time that Logan has known Elleigh, it has always struck him how much older, how much more educated and how much more mature than her age that she seems. However, as he approaches his daughter from where she stands outside, arms wrapped around herself, it suddenly strikes Logan how much _younger_ and more fragile she looks.

In short, it breaks his heart.

He wants to approach her, he wants to hug her, hold her and comfort her... But, how can he comfort her when, by the sounds of it, _he_ is what she needs comfort _from_.

"I saw the articles, Logan. I saw what happened around the time that I was born. I saw what **_I_ ** led you to do. I've found you now, but I don't need you... You didn't want me nine years ago, so why now? You should have just told me when I first went to see you."

Watching his daughter on the verge of tears, talking about something _he_ isn't even sure of, everything begins to feel hazy to Logan. Oh so very hazy.

He has a feeling he knows the _content_ of the articles that she is alluding to. He has a feeling that he knows the _connection_ that she has made between the news reports and her, or, well, _them_.

... But, what he _doesn't_ know is how to clarify the past without throwing Rory under the bus in the process. Sure, he's still unhappy with the decisions she made, but he can't do that to her, no matter what, but especially not when it's to their daughter.

"Elleigh, it's not like that. I-"

"Logan. Take me home. I want my mom. I want to go home" Elle says boldly, despite how weak she looks.

It isn't a question, it isn't a request. Rather, it's an order.

#

After a silent walk home, when Elle finally trudges up the steps to her home she doesn't knock and she doesn't say goodbye. Rather, she just storms into the home in the same way that she had stormed out of 'Luke's'.

"Elle? Honey?" Rory questions, seeing the evident upset on the face of the nine-year-old as the mother and daughter briefly cross paths in the hallway.

However, Rory doesn't follow after her daughter immediately, thinking she'll return for her daughter's side of the story in a few moments. Instead, she races out of her front door and manages to catch Logan just as he's climbing into his limo.

"Logan? What's going on? Why is she upset?"

"She's seen the articles about me. She thinks that I left you guys. She thinks that I didn't want her, Ace..."

* * *

 **So, just like the first time when it led her to her father, Elle has jumped to some more conclusions... _But_ they aren't as accurate this time around. Consequently, poor Logan is being frozen out by Elle _because_ poor Elle believes that Logan left her and Rory before she found him all those years later. The angst of this ****chapter broke my heart to write!**

 **Also, Logan's scandal and the media coverage around it has been briefly alluded to a few times, but never really detailed. The full story of that will be out in a few chapters time, too.**

 **Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts and feelings on the chapter!**

 **Next chapter: Rory realises that Elle is more than ready for the _whole_ story. Then, what question leaves Rory reeling? **


	15. The Whole Story

**CHAPTER 15: The Whole Story**

" _Logan? What's going on? Why is she upset?"_

" _She's seen the articles about me. She thinks that I left you guys. She thinks that I didn't want her, Ace..."_

There was nothing that Rory could do or say before Logan left.

Instead, she just stood there, completely surprised as he left without another word; taking his devastation over how the day had turned out along with him.

#

Once Rory returns inside, she immediately heads for her destination.

She _knows_ that there are things that she needs to do and she _knows_ that there are things that she needs to say.

For as long as she has _tried_ to skate around the issue and be selective what history she tells her daughter, Rory knows that she has to face the music.

It isn't fair to her daughter or to Logan anymore...

#

As she reaches Elle's room and stands in the doorway, the sight before her breaks Rory's heart. All it takes is one glimpse of seeing her daughter curled up on her bed, arms wrapped around herself, holding herself, in tears, to utterly crush Rory's heart.

"Oh, Elle..." Rory sighs rushing over to the bed to be by her daughter's side. She embraces her and gently tries to manoeuvre her so that they are hugging each other instead of Elle just hugging herself.

Even after being comforted by her mother, it takes Elle a few minutes for her tears to dry up as Rory holds her daughter, comfortingly stroking her hair.

"Why didn't he want me?" Elle eventually croaks.

It breaks Rory's heart and it brings a deluge of memories back with it. She can remember being heartbroken, being held by her own mother and crying over the same boy not wanting her. However, both she and her daughter were seeking Logan Huntzberger's want in very different ways.

"He does, Elle. He really does."

" _Now_ he does" she sniffles. "Why didn't he want me when I was a baby?"

Rory's brow scrunches up. Now she makes more sense of how Logan mentioned that Elle thought he didn't want her or them... But, she never once mentioned that to her daughter. She never once tried to frame Logan as the bad guy.

"What do you mean, sweetheart?"

"On the internet, I saw the articles about what Logan did when he got in trouble just before I was born. I didn't really understand all the wording and I didn't understand everything that it said he did. But, after I saw that, I remembered about a movie that I watched with glam-ma a while ago. There was that woman who had a baby even though her husband didn't want her to have the baby... He did all those awful things to make it harder for her and to stop her having the baby."

Rory nods. "I think I remember that one. She went through a real phase of obsessing over that one, didn't she? But, honey, it's just a movie. What does that have to do with Logan?"

"I thought about that movie when I saw the news articles about Logan. He broke up with you and he did all those bad things because you had me and he didn't want me... didn't he?"

 _That's_ why Elle had gone all Elsa-the-Ice-Queen on Logan today.

Rory sighs, tightening her grasp and embrace on her daughter after hearing what conclusion she has reached. Even though it is the _wrong_ conclusion, the weight of it would be enormous for a nine-year-old to shoulder and carry; believing that she been unwanted.

"Oh Elleigh... No, no that's not what happened sweetheart. The day that you went to New York to see him, that was the day that Logan found out that he has a daughter... That _we_ have a beautiful, incredible daughter... He never knew about you before that day."

For as long as Logan has been brought back into their world and for as long as she's had to explain the past, Rory has been dodging the _whole_ story.

She thought that she's been trying to protect her daughter from concepts that she thought are bigger than her. But, _really_ , Rory realises that she's been protecting herself from her own decisions that she's made and regretted. However, after hearing the conclusion that her child has jumped to because she doesn't have the full story only reinforces the fact that she needs to face the music and the truth.

Only _then_ might Elle be able to push past both of her parent's different mistakes and flaws and only _then_ might all three of them be able to come to terms with the past, make peace with that and focus on the future.

"What do you mean? Why didn't he know about me?"

"Listen, Elle. I have never lied to you about it, sweetheart, but there's more about the past that I need to tell you to give you the full truth."

Rory sighs as Elle just intensifies her gaze on her mother, waiting for her to continue speaking and waiting for the rest of the story.

With one final deep breath, Rory takes the plunge into the deep end, ready to tell Elle the blanks in the story.

"Okay... Well, you know that Logan and I dated during college. We really, really loved each other, but it was only when I graduated when we faced a problem that we couldn't overcome."

"What was it?" Elle asks in little more than a whisper.

Rory sighs and remembers back to that day, remembering the question that Logan had asked her, remembering the answer that she had given him and remembering the weight of always wondering whether or not she had given him the wrong answer that day.

"At my graduation party, your dad asked me to marry him. By that time, I was already pregnant with you, but neither of us had any idea of that. We still loved each other very much, but, I said no to his proposal because I wanted to focus on other things and I didn't think I was ready, but he didn't want to just stay as boyfriend and girlfriend. So, we broke up."

Elle just nods, taking in her mom's explanation as Rory's continues speaking and explaining after the pause.

"By the time that I found out that I was having you, we were well and truly broken up. I didn't tell your dad at first because I took some time to think about everything and plan my life. Then, before I had a chance to tell him about you I saw the news articles that you've seen. Look, when we were together, your dad changed a lot and he became a much better person than he was when we were younger. So, I felt a bit disappointed that the article looked like he changed again... When he made the decision to do all of those silly things, it had nothing to do with _you_ , Elle. If anything, I feel like it might be my fault, because we broke up."

Elle looks at her mother, taking in everything that she's telling her that pieces into her early life and her parents life around the time Rory was pregnant with her.

"So you never told him that I was born?"

Rory just shakes her head shamefully, looking down as she tightens her squeeze on Elle's shoulders.

"No I didn't. After that article, I decided a little bit longer to tell him. I didn't think he was ready to hear that then. There was one day when you were a few months old when I did try to tell him, but there was a misunderstanding and he just never found out that day. So, after that, it was just you and me. I was always happy just being raised by mom so I decided to do the same with you."

Elle just sits there blankly, listening to and processing everything that her mother is telling her. Then, Rory takes her daughter's hands in her own as she tries to enforce the seriousness of what she's about to tell her next.

"Now, there's one very important thing that I need you to know... I never raised you alone because I thought that your father was a bad person and it wasn't because I didn't respect him. I just thought that I was doing the right thing. _So_ , I need you to forget about everything that you read about your dad in that article. That isn't him. That isn't the person he really is."

From where she is being held and as she cuddles her mother -their hands still clutched together- Elle just nods simply, without a word. Rory strokes her daughter's hair affectionately, as she fights the feeling of guilt.

"I'm sorry, Elleigh... I'm sorry that you didn't have your dad around. I always tried to do what I believed was the best thing for you and for us, but I'm only just realising that I think it was a bit selfish of me. I should have tried more and I should have tried more. I'm so sorry, baby."

There's a long pause and a long silence as her child processes everything. She thinks about her past, she thinks about what she thought she knew and she thinks about the truth before giving her mom an even tighter hug.

Rory just leans down and presses a kiss to her daughter's locks that are just as golden as her father's are.

... _Finally_ , now they might all be able to move forward...

However, just when Rory thinks that things have settled and calmed down and just when she thinks that her daughter's wild speculating is in the past, she is taken for six by Elle all over again...

"Mom, you said that you and Logan loved each other when you broke up... So, do you still love my dad?"

Honestly, Rory can't answer Elle's question when she doesn't even know the answer to that question herself.

She hasn't let herself think of Logan like that.

She hasn't let herself look at him in that light.

She hasn't allowed herself to ponder over how time has been kind to him.

So as she looks to her daughter whose bright, blue orbs are gazing up to her own expectantly, Rory just lets out a nervous, little chuckle. She kisses her daughter's blonde hair before stroking it down affectionately.

"I think you need to get to sleep. You've had a big day."

With that, Rory just gets up from the bed and escapes both Elle's room and the question that her daughter has just posed to her as quickly as she can.

* * *

 **Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. I'm so grateful for everyone who's following the journey!** **I'm sorry that this chapter wasn't up earlier in the week. I was hoping that it would be, but I've been sick and a bit too miserable to push myself to proofread and update. My apologies, but I'm so glad that it's here now!**

 **Now that the truth is out there life will be able to settle down a little bit more for Logan, Rory and Elle. Plus, it makes way for Logan and Elle's relationship to grow. Not to mention, what about Rory and Logan? Is there any chance for them to have a second chance, like Elle asked? There's just SO much coming up and I just can't wait to share it all with you!**

 **Next chapter: Pretty big one! Elleigh tries to make amends with Logan after the misunderstanding. The mistakes Logan made and the content of the articles that Elle found is revealed. And, Logan makes a life-changing decision.**


	16. My Girl

**Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who read and especially to those who reviewed the last chapter. I am so sorry that this was not up sooner. I'd been planning to update last week but then a few big things got dropped on me at work, with very short deadlines. It's pretty much all good now and updates should become more frequent. Sorry again for the delay!**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 16: My Girl**

The following day and after dropping Elle off with Luke and Lorelai, Rory arranged to meet up with Logan and relay to him what Elle had told her.

She told Logan all about why their daughter had been so cold with him on their last meet up. She told him how Elle had wrongly jumped to the conclusion that Logan had left her as a baby and how she thought that he hadn't wanted to be a part of her life until she found him in New York.

Now, she is just finishing with detailing the connection between their daughter's suspicions, the articles that Elle had seen about Logan's scandals and the movie that she had thought mirrored their situation.

"Are you sure she's _only_ nine, Ace?"

"Tell me about it..."

Logan lets out a sad chuckle, before sighing at everything that Rory's just told him.

"So, she found out about my stuff up... I guess it's time we talk about that, hey?"

"I'll start. What on earth were you thinking?!"

Logan simply scoffs before answering her question.

"I _wasn't_ thinking. After we broke up, I spiraled. I fell apart and reverted to the old Logan. I undid years of work and effort. I spent all that time making a good name and reputation for myself, growing up and proving to world that I'd grown up, only to prove to everyone that I was still the same old Logan Huntzberger. I lost a lot of people's respect and trust in one hit that night. Heck, I even lost a lot of respect for _myself_."

Just months after he and Rory broke up and just months before their daughter was born -unknowingly to him- Logan had been arrested for fraud and embezzlement against Huntzberger Publishing Group... Against his dad.

When Logan had learned that his father and the authorities were onto him, he decided to go out with a bang. He was arrested on a party boat amidst disgraceful things and doing disgraceful things. In fact, what was going on on that boat was a whole _other_ news article in itself.

Rory can see that he hasn't forgiven himself for the indiscretions of almost a decade ago, so she doesn't labour her own disappointment in the father of her child and his past actions. Instead, she stays on topic, but brings up another issue that she has always wondered after seeing and reading the same news articles about Logan's crimes that everyone else in the world did.

"Logan, one thing that's always bothered me... The news articles all said that there were drugs on the boat. I know you were a party-animal when you were younger but I thought that only ever started and ended with alcohol. Did you-"

"No, Ace. There _were_ drugs on that boat, but I didn't touch them. I never have."

A small smile of acknowledgement flits over Rory's lips, before Logan continues speaking, regretting his decisions and mistakes of the past.

"I didn't do it for the money – I could have just asked dad for the money if I _really_ wanted it. I didn't do it for the thrill – thrill-seeking in that kind of way got old for me."

"Why _did you_ do it then?"

Logan sighs and rubs his face into his hands, mustering up the courage and the right words to tell Rory.

"I did it to distract myself from heartbreak. I just did it to feel disappointment and guilt from something other than screwing things up with you and for forcing you into all or nothing that backfired big time. Somehow, it felt easier and it felt good to feel disappointment from my family over the controversy than it did to feel the disappointment at myself and the way we ended up. That'll teach me, though. My company is still so closely linked with my dad's to redeem myself from my actions and everything I did back then. _Maybe,_ by the day I die, I might _just_ be free and forgiven from my father..."

Although Logan's last comment is more light-hearted, it does not reflect the way that he is really feeling _at all..._ He has always hated himself for the decisions that he made back then. Even as he was making them, he knew that he would live to regret it.

Now, the guilt for his mistakes has only been accentuated after seeing the impact on his daughter; seeing how upset she had been the last day they spent together, knowing that she is aware of the poor decisions he made and hearing from Rory that she found her crying not long after he took her home.

 _... That_ just made it all so much worse.

It was worse than all the yelling from his dad, all the attention from the media and the never-ending articles about the lost-cause-Huntzberger-heir. _Nothing_ was as bad as knowing his daughter knew about it.

"I feel terrible that Elleigh had to find that out... That I let her down like that."

"I know. That's why I made sure that she knew the scandal wasn't the reason why you two never knew each other. I told her to forget everything in that article and everything that it said about you in whatever article she'd read... After all, that's not you. I know that's not the person you truly are."

"Really... You said that to her?"

Rory simply nods. There is no smile, no flourish and no smirk to either leave him believing that she may be joking or lying.

"Thank you, Rory."

In case Logan's genuine, appreciative smile is not enough to convey his appreciation for what Rory said to their daughter, the fact that it is one of the few times when he uses her name over 'Ace' only reinforces the seriousness of his thank you.

One thank you doesn't even seem nearly enough as he reaches out for her hand and gives it a brief squeeze.

" _Thank you_."

#

It's within a week of Logan and Elleigh's last meet up when the father and daughter meet again. This time, everything is out in the open and all of Elle's speculation and suspicion has been cleared, from Rory's correspondence between the two.

"So... Your mom told me everything..." Logan says as he looks down to the blonde girl who is walking alongside him through the small town.

Although she had been expecting his comment or something to the like after the fuss she made, based off of her wrong conclusions, a slight flush of embarrassment still blushes Elle's cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Logan... I was pretty mean to you at ' _Butches_ ' the other week."

"Hey..." Logan adds quickly, his brows furrowing seriously. "Hey, don't be sorry. I know you got a few things about me wrong, but I feel terrible imagining how that must have made you feel."

The colour of Elle's cheeks intensifies just a little more.

"It was silly of me. I got it wrong... But, I just thought it all made sense."

Logan nods with sincerity at his daughter's explanation before directing the two of them towards a bench to sit and talk, now that the conversation is taking a more serious path. As the two take a seat on the park bench together and Elle adds to what she just said.

"I think I got too confident from being right the last time..."

Logan chuckles to himself a little, as he looks down to the girl beside him, beaming with pride. "Overconfidence... Now _that's_ a trait of mine in you. Sorry, kid."

Elle just looks over to Logan and they share a little grin. A silence then falls between the two of them for a few minutes, until Logan speaks up once again.

"Now, I don't care that you got it wrong. I don't care that you were upset with me at _Luke's_ last week. But, I **do** care about one thing and it's very important to me that I make this clear."

Elle looks up at her father. As her big, bright, blue orbs meet with his chocolate brown his, they remind him of the girl's mother's eyes that are oh-so familiar to him.

Silently, Elle just sits there, ready and waiting for Logan to continue speaking and explaining.

"I have made lots of silly decisions and mistakes in the past and I haven't always been the best person... I won't lie about it, Elleigh. But, as soon as I found out about you and as soon as I realised that you - _my girl_ \- are mine, never for a _second_ did I think about not being a part of your life. For as long as I've known about you, I've wanted that more than anything else..."

Logan pauses for a moment, taking a deep breath and preparing to continue speaking. Here he is, pouring his heart out to a nine-year-old with no sign of stopping soon.

Before he continues to speak, he doesn't look over to her; he doesn't see the small smile that's beginning to flood both her lips and her eyes.

"In fact, this is pretty cheesy, so you can't repeat this bit to _anyone -_ my rep's on the line here, Elle!- _but_ , for as long as I can remember, I've always wanted a little girl. Right from when I was young, I thought that I would have kids one day, but I knew I always wanted a little girl. Then, when I was a bit older and when your mom and I were together, just once or twice, I thought about the idea of us having a little girl. Not even _she_ knows that, so I'm trusting you to keep that quiet, my girl."

My girl...

The words linger in Logan's mind for far longer than they linger on his lips. _My girl_. He loves the sound of that just as much as he loves the meaning behind those words.

However, there's a sweet sorrow to Logan's words.

He got _half_ of his wish.

He got his little girl, but not the girl and the family that he'd dreamed of. He never got his complete, lifelong dream. The dream of having a _proper_ family...

Once Logan was old enough to realise that he'd never see a proper family as a child within the Huntzberger Empire that he was raised in, he knew that it'd be up to him to form his own if he ever wanted a chance of having a _proper_ family.

"Thanks Logan... Thanks for telling me that" Elle says. She can't hide her smile as she listens to her father's confession, knowing that _she_ is the girl that fulfilled Logan's wish.

"You're welcome. I just wanted to make sure you knew that not for even a moment have I not I wanted you _,_ or, to be a part of your life. I am already incredibly proud of the person you are and I can't wait to keep learning more about you."

A smile just spreads across Elle's face at the reassurance from her father. It brings a warmth and happiness to her heart; a feeling she wants to share.

So, the nine-year-old scoots over on the park bench a little, scooting closer to Logan. She opens her arms and doesn't hesitate in wrapping them around Logan in a hug; marking the father and daughter's first touch. The first hug.

As Logan's arms immediately melt into his daughter -like floodgates that he can't keep closed- so does his heart.

Hearing of Elle's pain when just days ago she believed that he hadn't wanted her, along with the sensation of holding his daughter in his arms and the feeling of his heart being completely and utterly consumed by that little girl, Logan makes a resolution.

In that moment, Logan Huntzberger resolves that he'll do _anything_ to protect her from feeling any kind of hurt or pain; a feeling that he had unintentionally induced for her just days earlier. He resolves that he'll spend his whole life protecting her from that.

While the seconds feel like they have slowed down during the hug, Logan still absorbs everything that he can about the moment. It's not until the two pull away from each other and it doesn't feel like it lasted for nearly long enough. Judging by what Logan has heard about parenthood, he imagines that this will be a recurring feeling and that he should get used to it, that every moment from this point onwards will feel just about the same.

... While it might feel like the moment will never end at the time, it's always gone, and over, far too soon...

#

After their chat that had gone better than Logan could have ever imagined - it was their best chat yet- he felt on top of the world, exhilarated. He and Elle had gone out for dinner afterwards, too.

Logan _still_ hasn't come down from the high when he's talking to Rory later that day after taking her back to her home.

"So, how'd you go?" Rory asks. However, judging by the size of the grin on the man's face, she can take a pretty good stab at the answer.

"Good... Actually, really good... In fact, I've made a decision about something."

Rory just gives him a curious look, urging him to continue speaking and to explain his big decision. Logan can't stop himself from blurting it out in milliseconds.

"I've decided that I'm moving to Stars Hollow."

* * *

 **Logan's moving to The Hollow! Can't you just see Logan & Kirk having a little bromance?! Haha. So, will he follow through with his plan? It was about time for Logan & Elle to have some quality father-daughter time, so I hope that you enjoyed their little scene and the snippet of what's to come as they get closer. Also, Logan's fall from grace all those years ago is finally out! **

**Also, just quickly, a couple of reviewers mentioned that they were surprised that Elleigh wasn't madder at her. I can totally see how people think that Rory's gotten off scot-free in a sense. I feel like Logan will struggle to trust Rory in the long-term, but he knows that if he stays furious and irate at her for the time being, it's only going to make it harder to co-parent Elle with her. Then, as for Elle, as much as she might like Logan so far, Rory's the parent that's been there all her life. I feel like it's only natural for her to not want to see the worst in her mum or blame her for not knowing him. Rather, I feel like the more she thinks about it, the older she gets and the more that her relationships with both parents balances out, _then_ I think it's the sort of thing that Elle may begin to resent Rory for when she starts to see the big picture and realise the ramifications of Rory keeping Logan out of her life. But, hey, that's just my thoughts. :)**

 **Next chapter: Rory reacts to Logan's spontaneous announcement. Plus, Logan drops an unwelcome reminder to Rory, but its a truth she has to face.**


	17. Rocks & Sand

**CHAPTER 17: Rocks and Sand**

" _I've made a decision about something... I've decided that I'm moving to Stars Hollow."_

After dropping his bombshell, Logan can see the look of shock and surprise etched into Rory's face. Even if it _wasn't_ already so obvious, he would have been able to read what she thought about the matter without her even saying a word.

Before Rory has a chance to collect her jaw from off the ground and before she has a chance to protest, Logan uses her shock to his advantage by holding his hand out, pausing her from any protests as he desperately begins to explain, _quickly_.

"Look, Ace, before you say anything about how this is going so fast, I just want to say you're right, it _is_ going fast. But, I've got nine years worth of catching up to do. Also, I want you to know that this _isn't_ just a whim. I've thought about it. I want nothing more than _this_."

Rory takes a quick glance around the room and behind her, making sure that their daughter hasn't just heard Logan's announcement, too. Then, she snatches up his hand and pulls him behind her.

"Shush. I don't want Elle to hear that and get her hopes up" Rory says as she drags him outside, in order for them to speak in private on the balcony. As soon as they reach their destination, she lets go of her rough grasp on his hand and crosses her arms in front of her.

"You can't move to Stars Hollow, Logan."

Logan scrunches his face up in confusion, wondering if there is a legitimate reason as to why he couldn't possibly move to the small town or as to what is stopping him from relocating. "Why can't I?"

"Okay, for starters, your job. Aren't you based in LA? At best, _maybe_ , you could work from New York since at least that's a _city_."

"The wheels are already in motion for me to be based out of New York. They have been since the day after I found out about her being mine. I'm going to work from home, mostly. I might go into Hartford a couple of times a week, but I will still most likely need to commute into New York once a week or so for anything I can't do from here or if there's any meetings I have to be at."

Rory's arms stay crossed, her eyebrows stay furrowed and her pout remains tight as he explains his plan before she begins her attempt at making a counterargument.

"Well, the phone reception is abysmal here and don't even get me started on the internet... Do you realise that there's nowhere to buy alcohol in Stars Hollow after 6? And, the price for _everything_ is so exorbitant thanks to Taylor Doose and the billion taxes he puts in place to fund all the town events."

"Jeez, if the whole journalism thing doesn't work out, I think you could score a job at _Stars_ _Hollow Real Estate_... You're doing an excellent job at selling the town to me..." Logan chuckles sarcastically, although not one thing that Rory has said has worked to change his mind or dampen his plans even slightly. Taxes and mark-ups aren't exactly game-changers for an entrepreneur.

Despite her failure thus far, she continues at it; extracting every negative that she can think of to try and change Logan's mind.

"Well, do you even know the name of your doorman at whatever penthouse you live in now, because, in Stars Hollow there is absolutely _no_ such thing as anonymity or privacy... Kirk knows what time you got up in the morning, the mailman reads your mail before you do, then Babette and Miss Patty will argue over what colour underwear you're wearing today."

Logan simply shrugs complacently. "Let them argue..."

Rory just huffs with frustration as she crosses her arms in front of her. She tries to think of more reasons to present to Logan, but he continues to speak before she has a chance.

"Yes, okay, I understand Stars Hollow isn't New York or L.A. or London or Sydney or even Hartford, Ace. But, I'm not moving to Stars Hollow _for_ Stars Hollow... I'm moving to Stars Hollow for _Elle_."

With his latest comment, Rory's tight expression loosens and her crossed arms uncross as they just hang limp by her sides.

Logan can tell that he's doing a better job at reasoning with her than she is doing at reasoning with him, so he continues to speak and he continues to explain.

"Listen, do you remember the first day that Elle and I properly met up here to spend time with each other? That day I started freaking out about how I was doing everything wrong and remember _you_ told me to think about my dad and what I wanted from him as a child. Your advice got me thinking... I've asked myself that question and I've thought about what _I_ wanted from _him_ as a child. For some reason, the thing that stands out in my mind, the thing that I always wanted was for my dad to pick Honor and I up from school or to at least be home when we did."

Rory remains silent, sensing that Logan hasn't finished explaining. So she simply nods her head, gesturing for him to continue speaking and to continue explaining, as he does.

"It's going to be hard, but it would be hypocritical for me to not even _try_ to do what I had always wanted from my own dad, now that I'm a dad... _So_ , I want to be in a position to be able to pick Elleigh up from school as much as I can or to at least be able to be there for when she comes home from school. I want to hear about her day. I want to hear about what she learnt and what she did during her day. I want to know about her friends. I want to help her with homework and I want to take her out for doughnuts after school. That's what _I_ always wanted and that's what _I_ always wished for. So, it's something important for me to be able to do with Elle."

Rory continues to nod, thinking his explanation through before releasing a big, deep sigh.

"Okay... Okay, you're a big boy. You're your own person. I can't stop you. But, I please beg of you to only go through with this and only tell Elle if you are 100% sure that you can follow through with it and if you don't think you'll have to move away after a week of doing the hard yards."

A smile creeps over Logan's face. He doesn't _need_ Rory's approval to follow through with his plan and to move to her small town. But, he's glad that he has it; _sort of_.

"There's not a doubt in my mind, Ace. I'm going to make it work. I don't care if it makes my life or my job harder to manage. You see, it's like that example about the rocks and the sand."

Rory gives Logan a vague look. She doesn't even need to repeat it for him to realise that she's not clued up about what he's talking about. "The rocks and the sand...?"

"Yeah, the rocks and the sand, you know? You have a bucket. You think about what the most important things in your life are – they are the rocks. Then, everything else in your life is the sand... The sand fits in _around_ the rock when you put that in the bucket second, _after_ the rock. Elle's the rock. Work and everything else is the sand... It's going to have to fit around her. "

The brunette nods at Logan's illustration, not quite knowing exactly what to say to that. Not to mention, the more he speaks, the more she realises that he seems to be proving her wrong. He seems to have thought this through and he seems to know what he's setting himself up for by moving to Stars Hollow.

After a brief silence, Rory releases a sigh and admits defeat.

"Have you looked at any places yet? Run any of the places that you're looking at by me and I'll tell you if there's anything that the listing's not telling you."

"A couple... I'll send the link's on to you. Thanks Ace."

The exes share a smile and another silence before Logan remembers another Pandora's Box that he needs to open and bring up with the mother of his child.

"There's one other thing that's been on my mind. It's about my parents."

Logan's parents... Mitchum and Shira Huntzberger... Also known as: _lovely and lovelier_.

Rory knew this day would come.

No matter what, Rory can't change the fact that her daughter has the blood of Mitchum and Shira Huntzberger flowing through her; that they are related to that little girl through blood. And, unfortunately, her daughter's paternal grandparents are not exactly favourite people in the world.

"I've been thinking that it's about time that I tell my family about Elle... After all, they're going to have to meet her one day."

* * *

 **Thank you to everyone who has been sticking with story, loyally reading and reviewing. I know this chapter's on the shorter side, but there's a few longer ones to come. I'll try to get the next update posted sooner rather than later to compensate.**

 **So, Logan's set on moving to Stars Hollow. How will he go with settling into the small town? Not to mention, will Stars Hollow accept _him_? Also, how will Mitchum  & Shira react to meeting Elle? We'll see that unfold in not the next chapter, but the one that follows it.**

 **Next chapter: Logan begins his big move and Rory faces the feeling of ****déjà vu** **. Plus, you'll finally see what went down all those years ago on the day that Rory went to tell Logan about Elle.**


	18. Not-So-Little White Lies

**So, excuse time. I am so sorry that this is not up sooner. The thing is, I edited it almost two weeks ago. When I went to post it, FanFiction was having some issues so I didn't end up posting it when I intended to. Then, after that, work got crazy again. I have barely even glanced at FanFiction, so I managed to completely forget until I was driving home from the shops yesterday and I realised that I haven't posted this chapter, due to excuses A, B and C... Please accept my sincere apologies!  
**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 18: Not-So-Little White Lies**

After Logan made his decision to move to Stars Hollow and work from a base in New York, it took a few weeks for that move to get organised and take place.

Then, just days after receiving the keys for and just days after beginning to set the office up (or, getting his minions to set the office up, rather), Logan had invited Rory and Elleigh to take a trip into the city to see his new workplace today

Thanks to the extensive directions that Logan gave, the mother and daughter find and enter the building with relative ease, _but_ he joked that he's sure that Elle could have got them both there _without_ those instructions, with his daughter's ability to and reputation for navigating herself around New York preceding her.

After they arrive at and enter the building, the duo take the short ride up the elevator to reach the thirty ninth floor where the double doors open to a bare and unintentionally minimalist office. The area and the layout of the office is already beginning to take shape and it's becoming evident that it will be a predominantly open-plan workplace, aside from Logan's office, a meeting room and two other offices.

As Rory and Elleigh exit the lift they immediately spot the young, blonde man that they are here to from where he is standing on the other side of the room, before he sees them. From the second that she sees her dad instructing someone and pointing to a few different things around the room, Elleigh begins to race over to him, before the worker has barely begun to walk away from Logan.

Then, as soon as he catches sight of the two girls in his office -especially the one hurtling towards him for a hug- Logan goes from serious, furrowed-eyebrow, 'work-dork' mode to lighting up at their presence.

When Elle finally collides into her father's arms, she and Logan hug dramatically. He wraps his daughter in a big, bear-hug, furling over her with the intention of pretending to squash her within his arms as she giggles, playing along happily.

As she watches them from the other side of the room, the bond between the father and daughter is clearly evident and it's beautiful to watch. It's hard to tell who is happier to see the other. It brings a smile to Rory's face. But, she can only imagine just how much stronger and more evident that bond would be if they had known about each for longer than a month.

"Going for the minimalist look?" Rory teases, approaching the father-daughter duo as she scans the wide room that is lacking the furniture, furnishings, decor and paperwork of a normal office.

Around the room there are some workers constructing a desk in the corner, a couple of others entering or exiting one of the few rooms that are visible from the elevator and another employee is standing in the corner talking animatedly on her phone.

"Ha ha, Ace. I've learned that it's cheaper" Logan responds as he and Elle pull away from each other, although he keeps a hand on her shoulder affectionately.

"So where's your office? Can you show me?" Elle interrupts, looking up at her father curiously.

Logan smiles at his daughter and her interest in his new workplace, happily nodding at her request, preparing to show her his office, give her a rundown of his work and what he will be doing in that office.

Having assumed that Rory would follow behind too, it's only after he and Elleigh have walked off to his office when Logan notices that Rory's still standing frozen on the spot where they had left her last, looking dazed.

"Hey, Ace? Are you alright over there?"

Standing there, in the almost empty room, it takes Rory back to years ago. Years ago when she was in a very similar situation, finding and visiting Logan's other barely furnished office for the first time, visiting with the purpose of seeing him...

#

 **March 1 2008**

 _Walking among the tall, sky-scraping buildings, Rory can't help but feel small._

 _Walking through the city is usually enough to make **anyone** feel small standing beside the buildings. But, today, Rory feels even smaller than usual._

 _Walking through the busy streets of Los Angeles and walking through the business district, Rory tries to navigate her way past the flood of people and through the unfamiliar area, looking for the large sign that she has come all the way from Connecticut for._

 _As walks around, Rory yawns for the umpteenth time today, unsure whether it's the red-eye flight or her newborn daughter's nightlife that is more to blame._

 _She had flown to Los Angeles very early this morning, aiming to only be away from her baby for a day and with the itinerary to fly in first thing, visit Logan, give him the news that will turn his world upside down, talk about that, stay in the city overnight if she must and then be on the next flight home to get back to her baby girl before midday the following day._

 _Rory had made the decision to leave Elleigh with her mother and step-father for the day, not too sure that she's **quite** ready for a six hour flight with a newborn on her own just yet. But, that's just one of the reasons, seeing as she doesn't think that her destination –a small start-up office- is really the place to bring a screaming, newborn baby, either._

 _Plus, by leaving her daughter in the very capable hands of her mother, it also gives Rory the chance to deliver Logan herself. Rather than that piece of news revealing itself and being delivered abruptly, in the form of a baby, as soon as he catches sight of her..._

 _After a good twenty minutes of walking, Rory eventually finds the building, then the sign and then the level that she needs to take the lift to._

 _As she enters the elevator, she straightens her hair and pats down her skirt. With a deep breath, she tries to prepare herself for the fact that any minute now, any second even, she may be met with the face of the man that she turned down, the face that she had been forced to stand there and watch when she turned him down and broke his heart, shattering it into smithereens._

 _Rory is a nervous wreck. She feels nauseous and she feels like her stomach is containing a whole breed of vicious and violent butterflies. Ironically, both are sensations that remind her of her recent pregnancy, resembling the morning sickness and her daughter's kicking._

 _For all the time that she has spent thinking about it and for all the time that she has thought about exactly how she will say what she is here to tell Logan, she still feels no more prepared. For months, she had deliberated on how she should tell her ex-boyfriend firstly that 'we're having a baby' and now that, 'we have a daughter'. Even using the whole plane trip as one big, mental, practice run has left her feeling no more equipped._

 _She takes a few deep, long breathes to try and control her breathing and her rippling nerves. Although she_ _tries_ _to gain her composure and make sure she's presentable, Rory feels anything but. She is a rattled bundle of nerves, every inch of her oozing with nervousness. Not to mention, she feels like a bundle of nerves, with Louis Vuitton-grade, suitcase-sized, bags under eyes and paranoia that her perfectly clean clothes are covered in baby sick. _

_The lift comes to a stop on her level and it opens to a simple and clean office with closed doors, winding hallways and what Rory instantly heads for; the front desk with a stereotypical young, gorgeous, blonde receptionist comfortably sitting on the other side of the desk counter; as confident as a Queen sitting atop her throne, surveying her land._

" _Good morning. How can I help you?"_

" _Hi, um, good morning" Rory utters nervously, pondering how she's possibly going to face Logan if she can't even greet a stranger without stumbling. "I'm here to see Logan. Logan Huntzberger, sorry."_

 _The receptionist looks up from her computer, giving Rory a once-over, maintaining her firmly pursed lips._

" _Do you have an appointment? Is Mr. Huntzberger expecting you?"_

 _Rory shakes her head as she nervously wrings her hands within each other._

" _No... No, he's not expecting me."_

 _With a nod of acknowledgement, the receptionist wearing the name tag 'Natasha' looks down to her computer briefly and then once again up to Rory._

" _I'm sorry, Log-, I mean_ _ **Mr. Huntzberger**_ _is in a meeting currently. I don't know when he'll be out."_

" _That's okay. I'll wait. Please let him know that I'm here and I'll wait until he's free."_

 _Natasha the receptionist nods and with a hand gesture that would rival an air hostesses gestures, she directs Rory to wait on one of the seats on the other side of the room, before picking up the phone to call her boss. "Logan? I have someone here to see you."_

" _Who is it Natasha?"_

" _They didn't leave a name."_

" _I'm still in the meeting. I'll be down when I get a chance. I have no idea how long that will be. Is it urgent?"_

 _With a glimpse over in Rory's direction, Natasha subconsciously shakes her head._

" _No, it's not urgent. Take your time, Logan."_

 _#_

 _As he ends the phone call with Natasha, Logan immediately returns to the meeting room that he stepped out from to quickly take the call._

 _Reentering the room, he runs his hands through his hair and takes a deep breath. Small beads of sweat are beginning to form on his hairline and his tie feels like it is becoming tighter and tighter; strangling him in the process._

 _Logan's work is stressful. It means late nights, long hours and gruelling, hard work is needed in order to push the company forward._

 _... And that's on a_ _normal_ _day._

 _Today, however, the stress of a normal day's work is multiplied exponentially. He and the other co-owners of the company are trying to acquire and secure a particular investor that would be a game-changer for the company._

 _All morning, before the business day even began, emails and phone calls have been flying back and forth. It's been one step forward, two steps back in the negotiation game and_ _everyone_ _is on tenterhooks._

 _Not to mention, hearing that someone is waiting for him in the foyer of the office comes as no surprise. Logan's used to receiving time-wasting visits and phone calls from either the media wanting insider information on his father and HPG, visits from canvassers or all sorts of other D-grade organisations and companies that are trying to contact him for one reason or another._

 _Needless to say, the anonymous visitor that's waiting on the level below very quickly slips Logan's mind._

 _#_

 _After an hour and a half, along with quite a few subtle looks in Rory's direction, the receptionist -Natasha- finally works out why the waiting brunette looks so familiar... _

_She's been into Logan's office just a handful of times so it takes her a bit of time to make the connection between the photo on Logan's desk and Rory who is sitting in the corner, waiting to see him. She is the photo that's on his desk. _

_Much like about ninety percent of Logan's female employees and coworkers, Natasha has feelings for Logan and she has actively tried to convey that interest in him... After all, who **wouldn't** be interested in a handsome, young, entrepreneur from a multi-million dollar family?_

 _Natasha has made a lot of effort over the previous_ _months in_ _trying to drop subtle hints to her boss... I'm free tonight, and tomorrow... Oh, you're going to that restaurant? I haven't been. I've always wanted to go... Yeah, I have a thing for blonde guys... Oh, you're single too?!..._

 _After months of her hard work and effort in trying to pursue Logan, Natasha's effort had finally paid off and he'd asked her out for drinks on Friday after work._

 _So, if Natasha_ _ **is**_ _right, if Rory **is** his ex and if Rory __**is**_ _the same brunette girl as the one embracing Logan in the picture that sits on his desk, then there's a very real chance that his ex waiting to see him is going to ruin her chances with Logan..._

 _Natasha's train of thought is interrupted as the phone rings from beside her. She's quick to compose herself and answer it within three rings, true to company standards._

 _The phone call is just from one of the other higher ups of the company, in fact she's surprised that he's not in the meeting with the others as they try to acquire the investor._ _He only has a quick question, confirming the time of a meeting for tomorrow. However, Natasha uses the opportunity to dig a little deeper and use the man over the phone that she **knows** has been in business with Logan for the longest time, including before he moved to L.A._

 _Natasha covers her hand over the receiver, subtly, to make her words a little harder to hear and a little harder to read before she asks her co-worker the question to try and confirm her suspicions._

" _Hey, you've known Logan for a few years, right? Did you ever meet his ex? What can you tell me about her? What does she look like?"_

" _Yeah... I met her once. Rosie? Ronnie? ...Rory, I think. The thing I remember most is her striking blue eyes. Fairly quiet girl. Tall, brunette, I think she's in the industry too. Why?"_

 _Natasha does a double take and glances over to the girl that they both must be talking about. She has to be the ex. _

" _Oh, no reason... Just curious. Seeing as I have my date with Logan this Friday, I thought I'd try and gather some information on the ex without needing to ask Logan. That's a no-go zone."_

 _Over the phone, Natasha hears a chuckle from her co-worker._

" _It's after-work drinks, Tash..._ _ **Drinks**_ _. I'm not anticipating an invite to your wedding anytime soon. I would cool it down a bit; you're coming off as a bit desperate."_

" _I didn't ask for your advice" Natasha hisses over the phone, glancing over at Rory once again, watching from afar as she sits there patiently waiting, her foot bouncing up and down._

 _While Natasha had been distracted with collecting information on Rory from the moment that she first struck her as looking familiar, during that same time Rory has been oblivious to the receptionist's attention and glances in her direction._

 _Instead, Rory is distracted with from suffering an awful combination of nerves as she waits and waits and waits to see the father of her child, preparing to come clean to him in addition to worrying and missing said child. Her trip to Los Angeles today marks the longest time and furthest that she has been apart from her daughter over the course of her short life so far._

 _As if her own mother knows exactly how Rory is feeling as she is sitting there waiting, she receives a stream of selfies from her mom._

 _Just recently, Rory had treated Lorelai and bought her her first iPhone that she fell head over heels in love. Most recently, she has been getting into spamming her daughter with selfies. Usually, Rory would receive photos of 'Lorelai at Luke's', 'Lorelai driving home', 'Lorelai sitting in bed, 'Lorelai at work' or 'Lorelai trying to get a selfie with her parents' throughout the day. When Rory feels the series of vibrations on her phone, she instantly sees the stream of photos from the new grandmother. This time, Lorelai's photos are an assortment of selfies of photos of- and with- her baby granddaughter._

 _The first is a photo of her mother uncomfortably trying to hold the baby, take a selfie and smile all at the same time and Lorelai's difficulty at melding those three factors shines through in the photo, providing Rory with a welcome distraction as she sits there and waits, stifling a laugh at the photo._

 _The second photo that comes through is one of her step-father, Luke, holding her daughter and looking down at the newborn dotingly, with the same total adoration that he is overcome with every time he comes into contact with Elleigh._

 _The third message seems to be a close-up taken at the same time as the last photo. The camera is zoomed in to show Elleigh sleeping peacefully in Luke's arms._

 _The fourth and final photo is a selfie of Lorelai, clearly having a little trouble with taking a one-handed selfie as she uses one hand to take the photo and the other to pretend to blow a kiss into the screen, to Rory, along with the following message._

 _ **Mom**_ _: Hope it's all going well, hun. Little miss has been an angel. So much so, we're not sure if we're ever gonna give her back. Proud of you x_

 _Rory can't help but smile at each one of the four photos and the message that accompanies them. The familiar faces are just the comfort and distraction that she needs right now, effectively calming her almost instantly, before her nerves are jittered all over again..._

 _From the other side of the room, Rory notices the receptionist on the phone saying what she makes out to be "Okay, no worries. I will do. Bye."_

 _Faced with the chance of her hard work being for nothing and realising that the presence of his ex may ruin their chance for drinks, along with anything else that may come of that, Natasha steps in; just a little..._

" _Excuse me?" Natasha says as soon as she hangs up the phone from her co-worker, after collecting more input on Logan's ex and beckoning Rory over to her and the desk._ _"I'm very sorry, but Mr. Huntzberger won't be able to see you today. I ask that you please leave."_

 _Natasha appeases her own conscience by arguing that if it's_ _ **really**_ _important, she'll ask to leave a message... Right?_

" _Does he know that I'm here? My name's Rory Gilmore. Does he know that?"_

 _Natasha pauses for a moment, taking the time to carefully select her next words which could be skewed to the way that she needs them to be, without being dishonest and without putting her job at risk._

" _Mr. Huntzberger knows you're here."_

 _... Natasha appeases her own conscience with the reasoning that, after all, she isn't_ _ **lying**_ _. Sure, he might not know_ _who_ _is here, but he knows that_ _someone_ _is here. And, that someone happens to be Rory..._

 _With the confirmation from the receptionist, Rory's heart plummets and her stomach churns. Through all her nerves and all her worries about seeing Logan again -one year on- to tell him about their daughter, she never factored in the fact that he might not want to see_ _ **her**_ _._

" _Oh..." Rory says, her voice instantly sounding more deflated than the last time that she spoke. "And he didn't say anything about making another time to meet or anything?"_

" _No he didn't, sorry."_

 _Honestly, she can't blame him for not wanting to see her. She said no to marrying him, she has no idea how that must have felt to stand in front of all those people at her party, with such confidence that she was just as ready as he was to spend the rest of their life together, to only discover just how unfounded and misplaced that confidence was._

 _In Logan's defense, saying no to seeing her is nothing in comparison to her saying no to marrying him._

 _... **That** is what Rory tries to reason and tell herself, to reassure herself, in a feeble attempt to soothe the stinging feeling of rejection and karmic repercussion. It doesn't __**really**_ _help..._

 _Taking her small notepad out of her handbag, she takes the pen that is sitting on the receptionist desk and quickly scrawls._

 _'We need to talk... I have the same number. Rory'_

 _Tearing the small piece of paper out of her notebook, she hands the receptionist the paper and asks her to pass it on to the man that she has come all this way to see._

 _It's a last ditch effort and attempt and she can hardly imagine that a note will make any difference at all if he refused to see her. So, although Rory leaves the note with the receptionist -with Natasha- she doesn't expect anything to come of it..._

 _As Rory walks out of the same start-up office that she had entered nearly two hours ago, her feeling of nervousness has now been replaced with a feeling of stinging hurt._

 _Rory tries to reason with herself that she attempted to do the right thing... She tried and she got knocked back. It's out of her hands now._

 _It's just Rory and Elleigh now._

 _They don't need Logan, anyway..._

 _#_

 _Five minutes pass after a rejected Rory had slunk out of the room._

 _Five minutes pass after the note that she had left is thrown into the bin by the intercepting actions of a receptionist, unbeknownst to Rory._

 _It's just five minutes after Rory left when a blonde head swings around the corner._

" _Hey, Tash, I'm out. We did it. We scored Byron as an investor! And, hey, didn't you say that someone is here for me? You can send them in."_

" _She left... It mustn't have been anything too important."_

" _Oh okay. Thanks anyway..."_

 _Beginning to walk off again, Logan pauses and freezes on the spot for a moment to run one last question byhis receptionist as he squints, feeling a tinge of something... The something that stops him from dismissing his visitor completely just yet._

" _And you don't know who it was? They didn't tell you their name?"_

 _... Sure, Natasha might have a pretty good_ _idea_ _of who it was, but she doesn't conclusively_ _know_ _who it was..._

" _No. Never mentioned their name, sorry."_

 _Logan just nods at the information before chuckling lightly. Despite the stress of this morning, the successful acquisition of a new investor has him in a good mood._

" _No worries, thanks Tash. I won't lose sleep over it. It can't have been anything important if they didn't stick around to talk then."_

#

After Logan checked that Rory was okay, she encouraged them to go on without her to see his office, giving Rory the few moments she needed to stand in the near-empty, newly established office to gather her thoughts after the feeling of déjà vu from all those years ago.

Shortly after, Logan and Elle re-emerge from his office, the young girl smiling happily as she bounces over to her mother.

"Mom! He has a picture of me on his desk!"

Rory's noticed how Elle's been calling Logan 'he' a lot lately. Initially, Elleigh had been comfortable calling Logan by his first name, but she's noticed how just over the last few days, she has avoided addressing him as 'Logan', yet she hasn't called him 'dad' or anything else. Rory senses that it won't be long before she does, but for now the poor guy is just spoken of as 'he' or 'him'.

"Aw, does he?" Rory says in response to her daughter who can't wipe the smile off her face.

As the father-daughter duo approach Rory, she tries to shake herself from the past and the flash of déjà vu to help her return to the present.

"He said that there's a coffee shop just around the corner that does the best hot chocolates and coffees in the world... Can we go?!" Elleigh says excitably, asking her mother for permission.

"Of course... If you like, you two can go together and I'll meet up with you later on. I've got a couple of things that I can do while I'm in the city and it'll give you two a bit of time together."

From where she stays standing in the middle of the room, Rory watches as the father and daughter begin to walk off together after acknowledging her suggestion.

Seeing the way that Elle is with her father now, Rory can't help but feel like while she felt hurt and rejected in that moment, she should have seen the big picture that day...

She should have persisted.

She should have kept trying.

She should have made sure she got to Logan and she should have made sure he heard her out when she set out to tell him about their daughter that day.

She should have seen the right that her daughter had to have her father in her life and vice versa.

She should have known that Logan would set out to be a good dad; a fun, loyal dad that represents everything that his own dad was _not_.

As they begin to exit the floor of the office together, Logan pauses and stops on the spot for a second, quickly leaning down to Elleigh and whispering something in her ear as she stands still beside him. At whatever Logan has just whispered to her, Elle erupts into giggles before Logan begins to quickly and quietly hurry off, gesturing for her to follow him. The two partners in crime hurry off together, headed for whatever mischief they're getting up to en-route to the coffee shop.

Just as Logan and Elleigh have left his work together _today_ , Rory can't help but reflect on how Logan should have left his work that day, all those years ago, knowing he is the father to that little girl.

That day _should have_ marked the day that Logan and Elleigh knew about each other.

... It was the fault of the meeting that Logan was caught up in, meaning that he couldn't come out to see her immediately as he and his colleagues worked to secure an investor, putting that first.

... It was Rory's fault for not trying harder, for not demanding to speak to him despite her hurt and her sense of rejection.

... It was the fault of the receptionist who intervened, not letting Logan know that Rory had come all that way to see him and not letting Rory know that Logan didn't have a clue that it was her who was there... All for the sake of her own 'date' with Logan - those after-work drinks that he ended up cancelling in advance, anyway.

That day should have marked the day that Logan first knew about his daughter... _But, it wasn't_.

It was the fault of everyone, yet no one.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed that nice, long chapter to compensate for the marginally shorter one last time! I believe that this is the longest chapter yet!**

 **I also hope that that helped to clarify a little more into the past and what exactlu happened that day when Rory went to tell Logan. I know quite a few people were interested in reading exactly what happened and I had a very clear idea of what went down, so I thought it was a good opportunity to tie that in with the present-day parallel.**

 **Next chapter : Logan & Elle reach another milestone in their relationship. Then, Elleigh meets the senior Huntzberger's.**


	19. Castle Walls

***** IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE*** **

**A lovely reviewer let me know that FanFiction didn't send off new chapter alerts for the lat chapter I posted. So, you might want to have a look back and check that you've read chapter 18 before you continue on.**

 **Also, over 300 reviews?! Whaaaat?! Thank you to each and every one of you that has commented on my story whether it's been 18 times or 1 time. Thank you, and stay tuned! There's still so much more to come.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 19: Castle Walls**

After Rory and Logan's initial discussion about the fact that he needs to his introduce their daughter to the rest of her paternal family, Logan had made a phone call and set plans in place to meet with his family, informing them that he would be bringing two guests to dinner.

The impending dinner quickly approaches, just a week after she and her daughter visited Logan's office in New York.

When the night finally comes, Rory is stressed to the _max_. She has changed her outfit almost ten times, in addition to switching up her accessories and makeup another five times. Not to mention, she's ironed the brand new outfit that she bought for Elle an upwards of five times.

As evidenced through her nervousness, Rory can't help but feel as though the three of them are preparing to be dropped into the lion's den...

#

Logan had picked the girls up, to drive them to his parent's house for the three of them to be able to go and face the Huntzberger's together.

During the half an hour drive to Hartford, both Rory and Logan couldn't be more thankful of their bubbly daughter for taking over the conversation to distract them both from their nerves and fear of the unknown over the impending dinner.

"So, your dad's name's Mitchum and your mom's name's Shira, right?"

Logan confirms his daughter's question before Rory elaborates on the question itself, educating the nine-year-old.

"But, _you_ won't be calling them that, Elle. It's disrespectful for you to address anyone as old as or older than your parents just by their first name. Hopefully they'll tell you what to call them, but if not, just call them Mr. and Mrs. Huntzberger."

"Yeah I know that... Grandma taught me that when I was four. I just want to know everyone's name's so that I know who is talking about who."

As he drives along the freeway between Stars Hollow to Hartford, Logan quickly glances in the rear view mirror, catching a glimpse of Elle with arms crossed in front of her, not happy after feeling like she's just been told off by her mother.

"Hey, Elle. If you want to know names, some others that will be there is my sister Honor and her husband Josh. Just call them Aunt Honor and Uncle Josh, okay? Also, they will be bringing your two little cousins. There's Pascal who's 2 and Indigo who is closer to your age, she's 6. Everyone calls them Indy and Pas."

Elleigh nods at her father's explanation, which he notices after another quick glance towards the back seat, before she turns her attention outside and starts watching everything fly past her through the car window.

"How are you feeling, Ace?" Logan asks in a low whisper to the woman in the passenger's seat beside him. He tries to speak quietly enough for the conversation to go unnoticed or unheard by their daughter in the back.

"I feel like I'm ready for it to be over already..."

"Amen."

#

Eventually after a long, nerve-wracking drive, the dysfunctional family of three arrive at their destination, pulling up at the Huntzberger Manor.

"Wow..." Elle says with astonishment as she takes in the property that resembles a _castle_ more than it does a _home_ to the small town nine-year-old.

The three of them leave the car and head for the front door that is as large and as lavish as just as everything else about the house is.

However, as they walk up the driveway but before they reach the front door, Logan pulls Elle to the side for a moment, telling Rory to wait; that they'd join her in just a moment.

"Elleigh, before we go in, there's something I want to tell you just quickly. Now, I don't know how my parents are going to act tonight. They are notorious for not being very nice people, okay? But, whatever goes on inside – whatever they say and whatever they do, I want you to promise me that you won't take it to heart. You are an incredibly smart, wonderful young girl and your mother and I are both so, completely proud of you. Don't let _anyone_ tell you otherwise, Elle... Including my parents."

Elle just nods at her father with a big smile across her face.

"I promise. Thanks... _dad_."

Dad.

 _Dad_...

He never knew that that one little word, three little letters could make him as happy as he feels in this moment.

He could melt...

He never knew that his heart could fill with so much pride and swell with so much love at being called 'dad' for the very first time.

He has to resist the urge to clutch at the left side of his own chest, as though he can physically feel the eruption of feeling that his daughter has just induced. After all, it is one thing to know that he _is_ Elle's dad, but it is another thing to know that _Elle_ has started to think of him as and see him as her dad.

Suddenly, with that one word acknowledgment from Elle, Logan's night feels so much easier to tackle and conquer.

Getting through it seems so much more doable.

That one word from his daughter gives him the courage that he needs to feel like he's going to be able to make it out of the other side of this dinner with his parents...

#

After being greeted and welcomed inside by Imogene, the current Huntzberger maid, Logan, Rory and Elle are ushered through the home where Mitchum and Shira are waiting.

As soon as the elder Huntzberger's come into view, Rory notices how Logan puts a hand on their daughter's shoulder. It brings a small smile to her face. After all, it's a subtle, but protective gesture. It's like he's got her back and before the fights even start, he's there to protect her.

"Mom, dad" Logan says succinctly, greeting his parents. "You remember Rory."

While Mitchum greets his former intern, coming across the room to shake hands with both her and his son, his wife's eyes are locked elsewhere...

"And who is this precious darling that's joined you, Logan?" Shira asks naively, her sweetness as artificial as saccharine as she gestures towards Elle, the elephant in the room.

Shira acts as though she has _no clue_ as to why a little girl with the Huntzberger smile and the Gilmore eyes is standing in between her son and his ex-girlfriend.

Taking a deep breath of air, Logan rubs his hand from where it's resting on Elle's shoulder, comforting himself as much as he intends to reassure her.

" _This_ is Elleigh. Elle's my daughter... She's Rory and I's daughter."

Shira instantly lets out a little gasp, looking from Elle, to Logan, to Rory, to Mitchum and back to Elle. Meanwhile, Mitchum just nods solemnly, before moving in the most surprising direction.

Mitchum walks over to Elle, crouching just a little to reduce the height between them, as he holds a hand out to the young girl.

"Hello Elleigh. My name's Mitchum. But, you can call me Grandad. That's what your cousins call me. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Elle briefly looks over to Rory, as if checking for her approval, before she extends her own hand to where Mitchum's is held out in front of her.

"Hi... Nice to meet you" Elle responds politely as the two shake hands before she looks up to both Rory and then Logan. Her parents can tell that she isn't feeling quite comfortable, nor is she sure of how to act or what to say.

"Hello Elleigh" Shira says simply, with most fake of smiles plastered on her face, before she turns to her husband as he moves away from their granddaughter. "Mitchum? Can we have a moment, please? In private?"

Immediately after the introductions, Shira whisks Mitchum out of the room, telling Logan, Rory and Elle just to wait where Honor and her family should be arriving shortly.

Elle flops down and takes a seat on one of the lounges; she's instantly able to relax more now that the formal introductions are done with.

However, Rory and Logan share a wordless glance; both of them knowing that it's not over yet. The worst is probably yet to come seeing as there's no doubt that Mitchum and Shira have hurried off to determine their plan of attack and contingency plans for the bombshell that has just been dropped on them...

* * *

 **I was wanting this to be up sooner, but I've had a really big, really awful week and honestly, it's been a struggle.** **So, thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter and thank you to you all for waiting patiently for this chapter. Your kind words did more for me than you might have realised... :) _Thank you_.**

 **Next chapter: Things heat up during the Huntzberger family dinner... Will Mitchum and Shira play nice? **


	20. A Family Affair

**CHAPTER 20: A Family Affair**

Within ten minutes of Mitchum and Shira scurrying off, Honor, Josh and their two kids had arrived.

Honor was delighted to meet Elle and even more delighted to realise that she's an auntie. However, she did declare just how offended she was that she had never known.

... She and Logan both.

After Honor's excitement of being an instant-auntie begins to wear off, she introduced Elle to children.

Pascal wasn't overly impressed by Elle, but then again, not much held the two year old's attention for longer than a minute. Six-year-old Indigo, on the other hand, was fascinated by Elle, excited to have another cousin in her life seeing as all of her cousins on Josh's side of the family were boys.

Elle and Indy talked together and played well, giving their parents the opportunity to talk until all nine of them are summoned into the lounge room for dinner...

Mitchum and Shira are already seated at either end of the table; the Huntzberger patriarch and matriarch taking the heads of the table. After Logan's grandfather had died five years back, the seats on opposite sides of the enormous table had become the couples chosen seats; perhaps the distance between them is symbolic.

Logan and Rory take a seat either side of Elle on the left-hand side of the table, while Josh holds Pas as he, Honor and Indy take their seats on the other side of the table.

"Isn't it lovely having all of the family together at once?" Shira exclaims with a contended sigh as she looks across the table to where everyone is seated. " _Even_ the illegitimate among us..."

Logan gives his mother a long, unhappy glares silently before he and Rory glance at each other uncomfortably. Elle takes notice of this and makes a mental note to look ' _illegitimate'_ up in the dictionary when she gets home. She has a fair idea and she has a fair idea that the word applies to _her_ , but she wants to know for sure.

To break away from the awkward silence that comes upon the room after Shira's dig that no one called her out on, Mitchum speaks up, directing his interest and focus to Elle.

"So, Elle, do you know what you want to do when you're older? Do you know what you want to be?"

Rory watches the interaction carefully and closely. There's one point of interest that she takes a note of; a factor that she can't help but frown at, just a little. Watching the man she once interned for as he communicates with her daughter, she notes that he looks _genuinely_ interested in his granddaughter.

Surely not.

 _Surely_ he just wants to suss out if the Huntzberger Heiress is interested in taking a role in the family business...

"Um... I don't really know yet. I'm not like my mom who always wanted to be a journalist. I kind of like the idea of being a librarian, a pastry chef or a publisher. My Uncle Jess says he'd give me a job."

"That's quite a diverse range of interests you have there... You know, I'm pretty sure that you could get a job at a couple of other publishing places too, Elle" Mitchum says with a well-meaning smirk forming.

Once she finally has a new subtle, little insult ready for the current topic of conversation, Shira pipes up once again with her next passive-aggressive comment.

"They sound like nice careers, Elle... Have you ever looked into something more, well, _achievable_? Cleaning or customer service, perhaps? After all, they always need people to clean up after other people..."

Rory sighs at the latest remark, while Logan leans over in his seat, leaning over to Elleigh to whisper a reminder in her ear.

"Remember what I said to you before we came inside, Elle..."

Elle nods at her father, giving him a little smile as she uses her fork to gently toss her salad on her plate.

"So, how long have you two known about each other?" Honor asks, speaking up to try and divert the conversation from the Shira-induced awkward silence once again.

"About a month... I saw the girls at Rory's grandfather's funeral. Then Nancy Drew over here clued it out before I did."

The father and daughter share and reciprocate a little smile with each other.

"I find it curious that Rory neglected to tell you for, what nine, ten, years... After all, if she really **_is_ ** a part of the family, then wouldn't the father know about it?"

"What are you implying, mother?" Logan asks through gritted teeth.

Shira shrugs, lightly as the sickly, fake sweetness is toned down a notch as she stares at her nails, gently pressing at her cuticle.

"Well, it's just convenient how you and Rory _suddenly_ see each other after all this time and then you're _suddenly_ told that you're a father to her child. It would seem almost like a _coincidence_ , seeing as she found someone to palm child support onto. Not to mention, _someone_ that is far more capable of financial child support than many, many other men in the world are."

"Mom... Don't you dare" Logan says, trailing off warningly.

The timing could not be more perfect for Honor and Josh's son to begin crying inconsolably. Even a two-year-old can sense the air of discomfort riddling the room.

Knowing her son's cry, Honor knows that Pas won't be calming down anytime soon.

"Sorry guys, I have to take Pas out. He's really upset. He won't calm down anytime soon in here."

As his wife scoops their son up in her arms, Josh jumps at the chance to leave the awkward room as well, bringing Indy out with him too.

After the family of four quickly flee from the room, it just leaves the senior Huntzberger's all with Logan who is chewing at the bit, Rory who is nothing short of feeling completely humiliated and Elle who feels like the elephant in the room.

"Well, if my insinuation infuriates you so much, Logan, then go on. Show me the paperwork to prove me wrong. Go on and show me the documentation that gives you _such_ confidence that she's yours."

"We haven't done that. We haven't had to... _I_ haven't had to. There is absolutely no need."

A smirk erupts over Shira's face as Logan gives her the exact answer that she had been expecting from her only son, before it sours to a look of infuriation.

"Well, then, she's not a Huntzberger. I refuse to sit around and play happy families with strangers that have no place in his home."

Perhaps if Shira was out in public and perhaps if Shira felt as though she had more of a facade to maintain beyond her husband, son and two guests, she would have worked a little harder to keep her saccharine-sweetened mask on for a little longer.

After her latest comment, there's a long silence in the room. So much so, that you can hear the quiet ticking of Mitchum's Rolex watch as loudly as though it is being sounded out through a loudspeaker.

Then, after a good thirty seconds silence, the first person to speak up is the last person that anyone would have expected to.

"Wow... You're mean" Elle says succinctly, calling her grandmother out on her nastiness.

Shira lets out a loud gasp at the comment, clutching her chest dramatically.

The gasp commences an onslaught of commotion... Rory immediately tells Elle to apologise; Logan quickly jumps in and tells her not to, Shira exclaims how rude Elle is, while Mitchum, for once, has nothing to say at his wife being put in her place, simply laughing at the fiasco.

"No, Ace, don't make Elle apologise. She only stated the obvious. Elle's the only one in this room who had enough courage to call my mother out on her rudeness. _She_ should be the one apologising."

Logan's remark only elicits another gasp from Shira.

"You have sat there and bullied an innocent nine-year-old and her mother all night. Damn straight you should be the one to apologise!" Logan says to his mother firmly.

"Rory's using you, Logan! She's using you just like she did in the past. Do you think getting an internship with your father was just a perk of being with you?! She's using you and sucking you in to be a father to her little brat, scoring herself years of back pay in child support from you! Open your eyes, boy!"

Logan is irate. He can barely control himself enough to turn to his daughter, squeeze her arm reassuringly and encouragingly.

"Sweetie... How about you go and join Indy? She should be in the next room with her mom and dad."

Elle nods, obediently getting up from her seat. She notices her mother's look of concern as Rory just mouths ' _It's okay'_ to her sincerely.

The second that the door has clasped shut from Elle leaving the room, Logan is up and out of his seat, standing indignantly as he points at his mother.

"Don't you _dare_ speak _to_ , or speak _about_ , my daughter like that ever again!"

"Your ' _daughter',_ Logan? How could you _possibly_ know that she's your daughter without a DNA test?! I refuse to accept that she's your daughter without one."

Logan is seeing red. The more his mother speaks, the more she refuses, the madder and madder he grows.

"I _know_ she is my daughter. I trust Rory. We were together for three years. If she _says_ she's my daughter, I _know_ she's my daughter. But, if you're looking for evidence, Elle was born seven months after we broke up. Not to mention, as if looking at her isn't enough of a clue. Then again, family doesn't mean a heck of a lot to this one, anyway!"

"Well if it's taken her so many years to tell you, she clearly trusts _you_ " Shira simply responds, complete with a snide smirk in her son's direction, attempting to undermine his trust in Rory now; using a different tactic and plan of attack.

Rory sighs at the dig towards her. She reaches out to grab Logan's shoulder, trying to calm his growing fury and catch his attention all at the same time.

"Maybe we should listen to her... If it's going to make everything easier here on out maybe it's worth it to just get a paternity test and prove it."

Logan looks between Rory and his mother. His gaze goes back and forth a few times.

On one hand, what Rory's saying makes sense. Then, on the other hand, it's a matter of principle. It means accepting defeat and it means succumbing when it's only to silence his family.

"Alright... I'll do it" Logan announces with a sigh, running a hand through his blonde hair. "If it makes the difference between Elle being accepted and being treated well or not then fine, I'll do it. We'll get a test to prove it to you once and for all."

"Don't."

Three head's turn to face one direction as the Huntzberger patriarch speaks up for the first time in a while amongst the arguing.

"Don't do it. It's unnecessary. I trust Rory; I always have. She has integrity. If she _says_ that Elle is Logan's daughter, then Elle _is_ Logan's daughter. I always have believed that Rory was with Logan for the _Logan_ part of him... Not the _Huntzberger_ part of him."

"Mitchum, we talked about this..."

"Shira, _you_ talked about this. _You_ are the one who is adamantly against it. Don't put words into my mouth."

As his parent's begin to argue, Logan quickly turns to Rory. "Grab your bag, Ace. I'll go and get Elle. We're leaving."

With Mitchum miraculously defending Rory and Logan, now is the perfect time to leave before his standing changes; quit while they're ahead and quit before they or their daughter are attacked further.

"Thanks for dinner" Logan says routinely, a total lie as he and Rory leave the dining room together.

After grabbing Elle from where she'd playing games on Honor's phone with Indy, the three of them are almost out the door and away from the hostile Huntzberger home before their attention is caught by Logan's name being bellowed out.

Briskly rushing down the hallway is Mitchum, hoping to grab the trio before they left.

"Oh, good" Mitchum says as he catches up to the three by the front door of the manor. "You haven't left yet."

"Thank you for what you said in there. Thank you for standing up for me" Rory says quickly, before Mitchum has a chance to catch his breath.

Mitchum just nods simply.

"I say what I believe, Rory. I know we may have had differences of opinion regarding your career and what I believed in the past. However, despite that, I have always liked and respected you, Rory. And, I have always believed that you brought out the best in my son."

Rory thanks Mitchum once again, Logan fights the urge to roll his eyes and Elle looks up at the adults as they speak. The youngest in the group absorbs the snippet of insight that she's just been given into her parent's past. She _likes_ the sound of the fact that her mother brought out the best of her father...

"So, what did you want?"

After remembering that his father had approached _them_ , Logan asks the question with a sigh, his voice impatient. He has a low tolerance for anything regarding his parents currently.

With his hands clasped within one another, the eldest Huntzberger in the hallway looks to his granddaughter and then to his son.

"I'd like to have contact with Elle, if you'd let me" Mitchum announces, before looking down to the blonde little girl. " _And_ , if you'd like to..."

Rory and Logan look to each other, wordlessly reading each others thoughts on the issue before their gaze falls to their daughter who very quickly speaks up in answer to the question.

"Okay. I'd like that."

A smile spreads across the media magnate's face. "Great! I'm glad to hear it. I'll be in contact with your parents soon. It _really_ has been a pleasure to meet you tonight, Elleigh."

After shaking hands with each of them, Mitchum walks off as the trio continue to leave.

Elle races ahead to Logan's sports-car as her parent's trail behind, giving Rory the opportunity to whisper to Logan.

"Well... Who would have thought that Mitchum Huntzberger turns into a big ol' softy from a nine-year-old?"

* * *

 **Man, that was a fun chapter to write. I have seen the Huntzberger's written so many different ways, but this was just how I perceived a dinner going down. I always saw Shira as the insecure bag egg, but I feel like deep down Mitchum has a heart. He might have terribly neglected his kids for his career, but I have this feeling that grandfather-Mitchum would see the error of his ways and try to make up for that with his grand-kids. But, that's just me.**

 **Also, an enormous thank you to everyone who read & reviewed the last chapter. There was some fantastic feedback left on the last one. I really hope the rest of the Huntzberger dinner met your expectations!**

 **Next chapter: Logan  & Elle have a daddy-daughter date and then the past meets the present in a small way for Rory & Logan. **


	21. Trees & Roots

**CHAPTER 21: Trees & Roots**

A few weeks passed after the ill-fated Huntzberger family dinner.

After a few weeks of house-hunting, Logan had found, chosen and bought a house on the outskirts of Stars Hollow. As a local, Rory had debated that he was a bit _too_ close to Woodbridge and a little _too_ far from Stars Hollow, but Logan didn't seem to mind. His house was a little way out from the town, just past the Dragonfly Inn.

The whole process had taken a couple of weeks. Starting with the house-hunting, then packing up his old life and his old penthouse to relocate to Stars Hollow. Consequently Logan's boxes have only just arrived after getting the keys to his place two days ago.

While the house isn't as new and modern as Logan would have _liked_ and in comparison to what he is used to, but after trawling the housing market of the small town, he quickly learned that there isn't much in that way at all. A house built ten-to-fifteen years ago is considered as 'new' by the town's standards.

The house is two-storey with four bedrooms and three bathrooms, with two larger bedrooms for himself and for Elle -if she's ever wanting to stay over-, along with a bedroom set aside for guests and a small study for Logan.

On the bottom storey of the house, the entrance opens into the large living area which Logan had personalised with his leather couches, large flat-screen TV and surround sound unit which moved with him from his previous apartment.

The lounge room led into the recently-renovated kitchen through a large, arched, open doorway. The dark marble bench tops complement the pine of the benches, the dark grey splashback and steel detailing and handles.

Another archway leads to the dining room from the kitchen which includes the large double-doors that lead to the outdoor deck and large backyard. While the dining room is clearly intended for a large, opulent dining setting, Logan's four-seater from his bachelor pad doesn't _quite_ look the part in the room.

Also on the bottom storey is a bathroom and two of the four bedrooms, with both Logan's office and guest room located downstairs. The remaining two bedrooms, Logan and Elle's were both larger in size, complete with ensuite bathrooms and small decks overlooking the backyard.

#

Logan is standing there contently waiting for the ring of the school bell, outside Stars Hollow Elementary School, waiting for his daughter to suddenly appear.

Maybe he'll get bored of waiting after a week or so, but in this moment right now, Logan is thrilled by the opportunity to pick Elleigh up from school. It's something so small, but it's something that really holds a lot of importance to him and it's something that means a lot.

The reason why Logan had moved to Stars Hollow was to be closer to his daughter. Consequently, an important part of being a part of her life for him means picking her up from school as often as he can around his work and spending time together after school. He wants to hear all about her day and he wants to take her out on little daddy-daughter dates for after-school snacks or to take her places like the library, the bookstore or even just home to help her with her homework.

After arriving far earlier and waiting far longer than he needed to, when Logan finally sees the familiar little blonde girl across the school yard he can't help but notice how her face instantly lights up and how her pace picks up to hurry over to him.

Rory and Logan hadn't told Elle that he would be picking her up from school today -and from now on- to give her a little surprise.

"Dad! You're here!"

Ever since the night at his parents' house, Elle has taken to calling him 'dad' instead of 'Logan'. However, no matter how many times he hears the simple title from his daughter, he never tires of her calling him that.

"Hey missy! How was your day?" Logan asks as she reaches him, the two sharing a quick hug. "How does an after-school snack at Luke's sound, Nance?"

While Elle's nickname isn't quite at 'Ace' level yet, 'Nance' had stuck and is quickly becoming Logan's pet name for the youngest Gilmore girl in reference to her little Nancy Drew stunt that lead to tracking him down in New York.

"Yeah! It's Danish day, dad!" Elle approves, responding enthusiastically to her father's idea.

After he offers to carry her schoolbag, the father and daughter walk through the town to reach _Luke's Diner_ which is located on the other side of the town square from Elle's school.

The short walk gave Logan the opportunity to ask the little girl every question that he could think of about her day, listening intently to every detail. He knows all about what subjects she had, the fact that Steve is in her bad books at the moment while she and Kwan are a bit tighter, joining forces against him. He knows all about her teacher and exactly what Elle likes and dislikes about Mr. Alexei. He knows what day her next test is. He knows what her homework for tonight is.

... All in all, Logan loves knowing every little detail that is significant to her about her day.

Once they reach _Luke's Diner_ and as soon as the door to the diner is opened, Elle rushes inside and races behind the counter for a hug.

"Grandpa Butch!" Elle exclaims excitedly. "How are you?"

Luke had been having a bad day. Most days _are_ bad days for gruff, Luke, yet, the second that his granddaughter is there, smiling in front of him, it all seems a whole lot better.

"Good, good Elle... How are you sweets?"

"Good! Dad picked me up from school and brought me over for danishes. It's Danish Day!"

At the mention of the other man, Luke looks over to where Elle's now finding a table in the diner, suddenly catching sight of the young male hovering behind her. The two men hold a hand up at each other in a small, motionless and silent wave.

The seat that Elleigh picks looks out the window of the diner, with a view out on the main street.

However, the innocent nine-year-old makes the mistake of choosing the table that also happens to be _closest_ to the town gossips, Miss Patty and Babette where they are catching up for a coffee and chat.

"Patty! That's Rory's baby-daddy! Elle's father! Remember him from her college days? Lovely young man... Morey and I met him at the Hay-fever Maze."

Logan listens intently at the close conversation seeing as he's already heard both his and his daughter's name pop up so far. Mind you, with Babette's 'whisper' that doubles as a yell, you really don't need to be listening in that closely to hear her...

"Such a good looking young man... What a dishy daddy he is! Rory has good taste. He reminds me of my first husband..."

Logan has to hold in a laugh as he listens to the commentary about himself.

Then, looking over to his daughter, Logan notices the look on Elle's face as they sit at the tables together. The expression on the nine-year-old's face at hearing about her father in this manner really is the polar opposite to the dreamy looks that Babette and Miss Patty are wearing. The poor girl looks disgusted and Logan has to stop himself from laughing out loud, instead allowing a big smirk to spread over his face.

"Should we get _takeaway_ danishes?"

She nods enthusiastically at the suggestion and within seconds the two are up and out of their seats, back at the counter and asking for takeaway.

#

Later that day and after work had finished for the day, Rory made her way over to her ex's new house to collect Elle. Even though Elle has a room for her things and a room to call her own at her father's house, she isn't quite ready for sleepovers with him just yet.

When Logan and Elle hear the knock at the front door, they are sitting on his lounge, with two disposable _Luke's_ cups and two empty takeaway bags being the only evidence and remains of their after-school snack that Logan had insisted on both overpaying and over-tipping for.

Before being interrupted, the two have almost finished the movie that they had been watching together over the afternoon. Logan sacrificed himself and his own preferences, agreeing to watch 'High School Musical' with Elle.

"Keep watching, sweetie. I'll get it" Logan says, jumping up and off the couch from where he'd been slouched next to his daughter to answer the front door.

He's not surprised when he opens the door to find his ex-girlfriend, the mother of his child, standing on the other side of it.

"Hey... How'd you guys go?"

"Good. I took her to _Luke's_ for an after-school snack, but we ended up getting takeaway so that our poor girl wouldn't be subjected to anymore mental scarring at hearing what a 'dishy daddy' I am."

Rory laughs, but she doesn't admit that it's _not_ wrong...

"Miss Patty and Babette...?"

"Yep... You should have seen the look on her face. Poor Elleigh looked nauseated. So yeah, we abandoned that ship and came back here instead. We're just about finished watching 'High School Musical'."

Rory smiles at the recount. "Go Wildcats... You're a good dad, watching that with her."

"Yeah, well many, _many_ years ago I learnt not to get in the way of a Gilmore girl and her movie preferences."

Rory laughs lightly as Logan ushers her inside, offering her to come in.

"Come in. I want to show you something, Ace."

Although it's beginning to get dark outside, Logan grabs a hold of Rory's hand –whether he should or not is another matter- and presses a finger to his lips to convey the fact to be quiet before leading her further through his home and then outside.

"Don't get me wrong, I was interested in seeing your place, but um, Logan, you _know_ I don't have the deepest love, respect or interest in the outdoors. I'd rather see the inside."

"Shhh. There's something of interest outside, too. You're not going to believe it..."

Logan keeps leading an increasingly curious Rory across the decking in the backyard, then onto the grass and into the furthest corner of the backyard.

She looks to Logan, following where his eyes are intently fixed, grinning at the inanimate object in front of them.

"Okay..." Rory says coyly. It's not _really_ okay. She has no idea what they are supposed to be looking at, or why it's of such great interest.

"Do you know what it is?" Logan asks noticing her vagueness and lack of response.

Rory just shakes her head in response. _Should she_ know what it is?

"It's a tree, Ace... An _avocado_ tree" Logan says, erupting into laughter as he looks at the same tree that looks like it's doing anything but thriving in its cooler environment. "The last owner planted it a couple months before they left. Can you believe that?!"

Suddenly, he penny drops and the realisation of the particular tree, the particular type of tree and its significance from nearly ten years ago strikes Rory as she joins Logan in laughing at the irony of it all.

"Well, Palo Alto might not have meant to be, but apparently the guacamole was..."

As they stand there laughing together at the tree in front of them, Rory and Logan are oblivious to the fact that they are still holding hands from when Logan had used it as his means to get her to follow him outside... They are just as oblivious to that fact that as they are to the fact that the movie had finished just minutes ago and Elle had gone off looking for them...

And, they are also oblivious to the fact that that's when she spotted them on the other side of the backyard, laughing together from where she stands on the deck watching them...

Standing there watching her mother and father, Elle doesn't draw attention to herself or the fact that the movie has finished.

Instead, Elleigh just stands there. She stays there smiling as she watches her parents laughing together in front of what her dad had told her was an avocado tree earlier in the day, for _goodness knows_ what reason.

She doesn't interrupt and she doesn't alert them, instead choosing to just stand there and watch. After all that any kid wants is to see their parents' happy together... right?

* * *

 **Big thank you to everyone who left a review on the last chapter. Sorry that this one is a little slower to come. As always, life just gets busy... I hope you enjoyed this one and I'd love to see what you thought on Logan's developing relationships with both Elle and Rory.**

 **Next chapter: Logan's first town meeting and the return of the LDB boys!**


	22. Them Hooligans!

**Sorry that this one isn't up a little sooner. It's been all written up, ready and waiting, I just had to proofread it which felt like the hardest thing in the world to find time for! I'll try to have the next one up faster.**

 **But, thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed and stuck with me on this journey. I appreciate the support immensely.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 22: Them Hooligans!**

Tonight is the Stars Hollow town meeting.

Now an official 'townie', Logan had planned to attend his first town meeting but warned Rory and Elle to save him a seat because he might be late.

The girls themselves had arrived a few minutes into the meeting too, as Taylor Doose is undoubtedly still reiterating the same points that he'd raised when the town meeting first opened.

"What'd we miss?"

Shifting away from where she's leaning on Luke, Lorelai turns to her daughter as Rory and Elle takes the seats beside her, getting them up to speed in a loud whisper.

"There's actually bit of excitement tonight... We have 'the case of the unidentified hooligans'."

"Rats. That's so typical, though... the one and only night we're late" Rory grumbles to her mother, quickly turning her attention to the town mayor, determined not to miss another minute.

Instead of delving into what the Hooligan's look like or what they had done to deserve the title, Taylor goes on and on and on about what a disappointment Hooligan-like conduct is within a small town.

"Leave them alone, Taylor! Especially that exotic one with the blue eyes..." Miss Patty says with a suggestive smile. "What's next on the agenda?"

"Ah, yes" Taylor begins with, appearing to completely forget about the Hooligan's that he'd spent the last twenty minutes madly raving on about, simply at the mention of the next thing he had to discuss.

"Sorry I'm late. What'd I miss?" Logan says in a hushed whisper as he takes the spare seat beside Elle.

"Hooligans... Not sure of the detail or how many. Mind you, that's a term Taylor Doose applies fairly loosely to people in general."

Logan chuckles at the input from the local. However, Rory doesn't notice Logan's smirk that goes along with what she's telling him before they turn their focus to the town mayor again.

"Now, people, annual games day is coming up at the end of next month. Unfortunately, we have to face the sad truth that we were outdone by Woodbridge last year when they broke the Guinness World Record for the number of games of _Twister_ being played simultaneously. But, not to fear, last year's downfall was a first and a last! This year, bigger is better. We will be setting up giant versions of games throughout the town, including what we hope will break the Guinness World Record for _both_ the largest _Snakes and Ladders_ board **and** the largest game of _Chess_."

"I love this guy..." Logan muses to the girls, with an amused grin on his face as he watches Taylor banter on passionately after the loud response from the rest of his town after his latest and greatest scheme...

#

"So what did you think, dad?"

"I think I am a big, _big_ fan of town meetings" Logan says to his daughter with an ear-to-ear grin as they leave the town hall along with Rory, Lorelai, Luke and the flood of other Stars Hollow residents who are exiting Miss Patty's Dance Studio. "What have I been missing all my life?"

The four other locals chuckle at the newly enlightened man who has had his eyes opened to the ways of Stars Hollow town meetings tonight.

"How's the moving going, Logan?" Lorelai asks conversationally, as she walks hand-in-hand with Luke. It's her attempt at trying to be polite with the younger man, who is more importantly known as the father of her granddaughter.

"Good thanks, Lorelai. It's still a work in-progress but I'm hoping I should be all unpacked and settled by the end of the week."

Lorelai simply nods in response, not having a chance to speak before they are all interrupted by Taylor once again, even though the town meeting had been gavelled to a close five minutes ago.

"It's them! It's the Hooligans! Stop right there, young men!"

The entire town stops for a moment, turning to see which poor souls are being targeted by the town mayor now. The entire town _includes_ Rory whose face lights up as she spots three familiar individuals standing across the other side of the town square.

Even in the dark, even across the town square and even after ten years, Rory instantly knows _exactly_ who Stars Hollow's hooligans are.

She looks over to Logan with a look of disbelief as he wears a knowing smirk. "It _was_ supposed to be a surprise, Ace... They've been helping me move in and get my stuff set up."

With surprise still etched all over her face, Rory lets out a little gasp before telling her mother that she'll meet her at _Luke's_ for their post-town-meeting-supper-tradition, before she and Logan drag Elle over to the boys.

"Oh you guys! It's so good to see you."

After hugs and greetings, and many 'darlings' from Finn, Rory finally turns to the town mayor who is trying to scold the boys, with not one word going noticed as they all speak with Rory and Logan.

"It's alright, Taylor, I know them."

"Well, well, well, Miss Gilmore. That's most certainly _not_ 'alright' then! You, being friendly with these _thugs_...? I'm appalled. What example do you set for your poor daughter?"

Rory rolls her eyes momentarily before changing her tactic.

"Okay, Taylor. You're right. I do know what they're like. I'll make sure they are very severely punished. Don't worry, I've got this. I'm sure you've got other important mayor duties to do tonight."

After some uncertain mumbling and bumbling from Taylor at the idea of leaving something in the hands of someone else, Rory finally succeeds in shooing him away, but decides to take extra measures for privacy.

"My place is just down the road. How about we head there to continue this little reunion?"

#

After the group move their reunion from the very center of the town, they relocate to Rory and Elle's place to continue talking and catching up with each other after almost a decade apart.

The second that the group enters the house, Finn is the first one to speak and ask the question he has safely assumed for himself but looks to confirm.

"Now... Is this little darling who I think she is?"

The Australian holds his arms out open and in the direction of the child standing among the adults, just to make it perfectly clear who he is talking to.

"Yep. This is Elleigh... Elle... Our daughter" Logan introduces with the pride evident on his face, before he points out each of his friends to his daughter. "These are you uncles; Uncle Colin, Uncle Finn and Uncle Robert."

Even though the boys had a pretty good idea of who the little girl with a hybrid of blonde hair and blue eyes could be, there is a flurry of excitement as the boys introduce themselves to Elle and ask why Rory hadn't told 'just them' about her.

"Oh! Little Logan! It's so good to meet you!" Finn says embracing the younger girl in a big, warm hug.

Elle grins at the sudden surge of attention that is being poured over her as Queen of the moment, being hugged by each of her parent's three friends. After the greetings, Finn crouches down beside her to reduce the height between them, in fact, making Elle taller than himself.

"Now, go to Uncle Colin if you want anything bought for you – he has a hole in his hand. Go to Uncle Robert when you need to make a decision – he makes the worst decisions, so you know to go with the opposite of whatever he says. And, last but not least, come to me if you need absolutely anything else – Uncle Finny's always here for you, darling."

Looking up to her parents, Elle's face is lit with a big, wide smile. She's already very taken by the Life and Death Brigade boys – the Hooligans- which would be much to Taylor Doose's disgust.

"I like you guys already..."

#

It was a fly-in, fly-out trip to Stars Hollow for the boys and the following day they all had to return to their city and their various obligations. Despite the path of resistance and as much as they might have tried, responsibilities had crept up on the young men at some point in time over the last ten years, shaping them more than they might like to admit.

Before they have to leave later that day, Logan and the other boys had arranged to meet up with Rory and Elleigh once again. They'd just had lunch at _Luke's_ before deciding to stroll through the town again for a proper tour; even at the risk of bumping into Taylor Doose.

"This town is positively charming. I could see myself settling down here..."

As they walk, side by side, Logan leans in Rory's direction a little to whisper a fact regarding Finn's love of the town.

"He met Patty. Let's just say that I think there's a _very_ strong chance that Finn will be her sixth husband."

Rory chuckles at the information that Logan's given her before Robert chimes in about the minuscule chance of Finn 'settling'.

" _You_? Settled? You'd settle for five minutes before you get bored of being settled."

Finn just shrugs before nodding his head a little, realising that Robert may just have a point...

The group continues to walk through the town in silence before Colin speaks up.

"So have you guys heard our nickname for Elleigh yet?" he asks, directing his question at her parents as they all continue walking. "It's _genius_."

Rory and Logan both shake their heads before looking to one another, a little concerned. Anything that the boys deem as 'genius' is most _definitely_ open to interpretation. "No. What is it?"

"Well, _I_ came up with it" Finn begins, prefacing the announcement oh-so humbly by making sure all credit is given where credit is deserved.

"Her nickname is Little L" Robert says, jumping in to make sure that he is included in the name reveal, scoring himself a dirty look from Finn who continues to explain the significance of the nickname.

"Yes... As I was _about to say_ , her nickname's 'Little L'... Get it?! It's got a triple meaning! 'Little L' stands for Little Logan. But, it also sounds like her name, like we could be saying 'Little Elle'. And, most importantly, she's 'Little L' as the youngest member of the Life and Death Brigade! It's a clever nickname!"

Logan and Rory look to each other as they shake their heads at the boys efforts and their enthusiasm and they can't help but share a laugh.

"Like it?!"

"I guess it works, but I don't think that any nickname which needs to be explained so extensively is necessarily the _strongest_ nickname" Logan criticizes honestly, to the objection of his three best mates.

In response Logan's feedback, Finn slings a hand over Elleigh's shoulders comfortingly.

"Don't listen to him... He doesn't mean it. Son't worry Little L."

Elle chuckles at Finn's dramatic reaction to her father's comment.

"Now there's one other issue of importance that needs to be brought up before we boys are on our way" Finn adds, with his arm still around the younger girl. Being an uncle has brought out a soft side and a type of love and adoration for the little girl.

"Elleigh Gilmore... _Who_ is your favourite uncle?"

Much like her mother, Elle has never been one for popular opinion. So, when Elle thinks about the question and draws a conclusion, she grimaces a little knowing that it's not the answer that Finn is going to want to hear.

"Mmm...I think Uncle Colin's my favourite so far."

Hearing his name catches Colin's attention. "Wow, thanks kid."

"Huh, even my money was on Finnegan winning that title..." Robert muses, while Finn tries to disguise his genuine hurt with an over-the-top reaction.

"Well, you mark my words, people -yourself included, Little L- I **will** be the favourite uncle, if it's the last thing I do."

* * *

 **So this is more of a filler-chapter, but I wanted the boys to return before things start to intensify over the next few chapters. They'll be popping up again later on in the story.**

 **Next chapter: Logan  & Luke see eye-to-eye. Also, Logan stumbles across a piece of the past, leading to him asking Rory a surprising question. **


	23. Big Fish, Little Pond

**CHAPTER 23: Big Fish, Little Pond**

A few weeks pass by and Logan continued settling into Stars Hollow, adjusting to the change of pace of the small town from the big city he was used to, while learning lessons the hard way.

He hasn't learnt not to succumb to and see through Miss Patty's damsel-in-distress act _("Ah! Logan dear, would you be able to use those rugged muscles of yours to help me move a few boxes?_ "), which results in him being cornered in a room with her, _every time_.

He hasn't learnt to curb his habit of overpaying for everything that is _already_ overpriced.

And, worst of all, he made the mistake of actually ordering _pancakes_ from _Al's Pancake World_.

Beyond that, Logan was warming up to Stars Hollow and Stars Hollow was warming up to Logan Huntzberger.

#

One day, after walking Elleigh into school, Logan decides to head to _Luke's_ to try and get some work done as a change of scenery from his study at home.

After walking Elleigh to the school, giving her a hug goodbye and reminding her that she isn't allowed anymore Houdini stunts to pull off another Nancy Drew adventure, Logan heads straight for the small town diner, iPad in tow. When he arrives at the establishment, there are only a few tables being used with the rest free for him to take his pick of. He seems to have just missed the morning rush.

Glancing around the diner, Logan notes that Kirk's sitting on one side as he always seems to be, so the blonde man opts for the other side of the room, taking one of the tables closest to the kitchen that has a view straight out the window and onto the street outside. He _likes_ Kirk, however quirky he may be, but the last time he had caught Logan when he was trying to work, he had inundated him with questions and queries before Kirk tried to sell himself as if he was in a job interview for a job that wasn't even being offered.

"Morning Luke" Logan says as he takes a seat at the table he's selected and begins getting himself set up to work, greeting the gruff owner of the establishment from where he's wiping down the counter of the diner.

To identify the owner of the voice that has just spoken to him, Luke quickly looks up from the bench that he is cleaning on autopilot mode, just uttering one word in response to acknowledge the greeting. "Logan."

After a couple minutes and after cleaning a few other surfaces, Luke approaches the table where Logan is tapping away furiously on his iPad.

"Coffee?" Luke asks firstly, pouring out a cup for the younger man at the first sign of his nod. "Did you want anything to eat?"

"A Caesar salad would be great, thanks" Logan says, briefly looking up from his iPad to glance up at the diner owner who is taking his order.

After scrawling the order down, Luke speaks up once again before leaving Logan's table.

"How are the girls?"

"Good… I've just come from dropping Elleigh off at school."

Not only did it somewhat surprise him that Luke is _trying_ to make conversation, but Logan is surprised by Luke's further interest.

"How is that, uh, all going?"

"How's it going with Elle, you mean? It's going good so far. It's taken a lot of time and work, but I have loved getting to know her. I'm just trying to make up for all the lost time."

Before Luke has a chance to respond to what Logan has just said regarding his own question, Logan continues speaking after making a realization of his own.

"You know what its like, don't you?" Logan asks, making the connection between himself and the older diner owner.

Luke's face scrunches up a little in confusion. "I know what _what's_ like?"

"Finding out that you have a daughter… Knowing what it's like to have so much to catch up on and learn about your little girl… That hollow feeling when you think about everything that you've already missed in their life so far."

Luke nods somberly. He knows exactly what the new father means. He knows _exactly_ what it's like to feel that way.

"Look… I know it's pretty pathetic effort, but if it's any consolation, a couple of times over the years I did try and encourage her to tell you. I tried to get her to see it from your perspective; to understand what it's like being on the other side of the secret that she kept. But, at the end of the day, it was always Rory's choice."

Luke doesn't look Logan directly in the eye as he speaks. No, that would be too much.

Logan, however, looks at the older man earnestly, giving him a small smile of appreciation.

"... It was nothing, really. I mean, look, it didn't even work."

"Thank you, Luke. I mean that. _Thank you_."

"It was nothing…But, look, breakfast's on the house."

After the last few words, Luke briefly reciprocates Logan's smile with a small one of his own before he quickly hurries off and scrambles away. He feels like he'd overdone the conversation that had unintentionally blossomed into a deep-and-meaningful; consequently committing himself to an overly bromantic-moment.

However, the exchange had only reflected the fact that Luke always had a fondness for Logan. Not that he'd ever admit it, not even to Lorelai, but he does a have a soft spot for the Huntzberger heir.

That weekend at Martha's Vineyard had been a real turning point. He'd seen Logan's kindness, his generosity and the effort that he'd put forward to bond with him… And, in exchange for Logan's effort all those years ago, he had gained Luke's respect.

#

Later that day and on his way to pick up Elleigh from school just hours after dropping her off, Logan has a quick stop to make first; stopping at the same place he'd be taking his daughter later on in the day. When Rory opens the other side of the door that Logan has just knocked at, she is nothing short of surprised to find him standing outside of her door.

Today is Rory's rostered-day-off that she is entitled to once every fortnight.

"Hey... What are you doing here?"

"I'm just on my way to the school to pick Elle up, but there's something that I wanted to run past you, an idea I had. You don't have to give to me an answer straight away, but I just wanted to mention it while Elle's not around. You see, with moving, I've had to go through a lot of old stuff from my place. Last week I came across something and I would like to give it to Elleigh... As long as it's okay with you."

Rory's mind goes blank trying to picture or at least imagine _anything_ which Logan could be alluding to right now, with no clear idea of what he is actually talking about. So, out of curiosity, she encourages him to stop prefacing and just get to the point and tell her what it is.

"I came across the engagement ring... Well, I guess it wasn't _really_ an engagement ring since we never actually got engaged, but it was just the ring I proposed to you with. Anyway, I found it in my stuff and I just liked the idea of giving it to Elle, if you're comfortable with that. You know, see if someone can get some use out of it."

He attempts to be light-hearted and he attempts to force a chuckle with his last comment. But, Rory knows him better than that. She can see straight through him. He never recovered from and he never got over the failed proposal that Rory turned down all those years ago. She can tell that it still cuts him deep.

"You kept it?" is the first thing that Rory utters when she finally speaks up, nipping at her own lip and not really answering the question that Logan had presented to her.

In response, he just nods and she continues to ponder his proposition. Rory's lips pout and purse a little, thoughtfully, before a small smile erupts over her face.

"I think that giving it to Elle's a really beautiful idea, Logan. I'd like that. It feels... _right_."

Logan returns the smile, nodding gratefully at her for warming to his idea; granting him permission to give their daughter the ring that was meant to be hers.

"I can't wrap my head around the fact that Elle was there that night, too. Sure, neither of us might have known it, but she was still there too..."

Rory and Logan share the sweet sadness of the moment. Thinking about the fact that their precious daughter was there in secret on the night that their relationship began to spiral is bittersweet. It presents all the 'what ifs' of if her existence had of been known that night... Would Rory's answer have been the same? Would they have stayed together? Would it have steered them towards a wedding, instead? Would they be happily married today?

 _Both_ Logan and Rory are thinking about it and thinking of the potentials of what could have been, but neither of them dares to say it.

Instead, in the silence, they just share a sad smile, both of them feeling the bitter-sweetness of the moment before Logan speaks up.

"Well... Thanks, Ace... Speaking of our girl, I'd better head off now or I'll be late to get her."

#

After collecting the excitable little blonde girl from school, rather than taking Elleigh straight home to her mother's house, she and Logan made a detour and decided to hang out at his home for a few hours before taking her back to Rory.

Having received the permission from the girl's mother -his ex-girlfriend- just this afternoon, Logan can't wait to give Elle the ring that had and was supposed to have such a big meaning in his life, yet fell short of that. Now, that particular ring and everything that it stands for has the opportunity to find sentimental meaning in another, very different way.

As the father and daughter duo walk into Logan's home, Elle drops her bag to the ground, letting it fly to wherever it ends up. It's becoming clearer and clearer that she is growing more comfortable not only at Logan's home but also with Logan all the time. Logan, in short, is delighted.

After offering her a snack, Logan tells her that he has something for her; something important to give her. The two of them make their way outside as Logan directs them to his outdoor setting lounge, where they each take a seat beside one another.

"Elle, I found something when I was packing my stuff up to move. Your mom and I had a chat about it today and we'd really like for you to have it."

Elle looks at Logan a little apprehensively, warily, wondering what on earth it could be and why he had spoken to her mother about it, too.

"-I know that you know that your mom and I broke up all those years ago because I wanted something that she didn't want, and that's fine. That doesn't matter now, but it does mean that I still have this, and now we want _you_ to have it."

Logan pulls the box out from his pocket, holding out the same blue, velvet box that he had opened a decade ago, presenting it to his daughter this time.

As Elle looks at the ring, her face lights up as she looks at the ring. Watching the little girl in front of him is a moment of déjà vu for Logan, reminding him of the smile of the first girl who had seen the ring, reminding him of her mother's smile, but, without the look of doubt that had followed it...

"Wow... It's a beautiful ring, dad. Are you sure I should have it?"

Watching her smile, the way her face lights up and _stays_ that way is beautiful for him.

"Of course I'm sure. In fact, it would mean a lot to me for you to have it instead... Besides, I'm more of a pearls man, myself."

Elle rolls her eyes at the dad joke, but the grin stays on her lips, the smile glowing in her eyes.

"May I?" Logan asks politely as he pulls the ring out of from where it's tucked safely into its home of velvet. Elleigh nods enthusiastically in answer to his question.

"It might be a bit big..." Logan warns as Elle holds her right hand out to him. Slipping the item of jewellery onto his daughter's middle finger, the ring just fits and it _just_ holds. Just. Thankfully Rory has petite fingers.

Looking at her ring, what was supposed to be her mother's ring, Elle smiles happily, adoring the piece of jewellery before she throws her arms around her father in gratitude for the gift and the gesture.

Logan never got the special moment that he had been hoping for when he was inspired to buy that ring and ask Rory the question that went along with that ring. No, he never got that moment. But, instead, he got a different moment with their daughter.

"Thanks dad."

Logan smiles, holding his daughter in his arms. He finally feels like he's made peace with the past and the events that had transpired as a result of his failed proposal.

By giving the ring to their daughter, Logan feels like he's righting a wrong. It feels like making peace with the ending of a story that can't be re-written. It's not changing the past and it's not changing the ending, but rather, it's giving the past a happier ending.

... It just feels _right_.

* * *

 **Thank you so much to everyone who read & reviewed the last chapter. I'm so sorry that this one wasn't up sooner!**

 **Next chapter : What truths and feelings will be revealed as Logan & Rory have a family night with Elle?**


	24. Maybe, Just Maybe

**CHAPTER 24: Maybe, Just Maybe**

Weeks pass by and time moves forward, becoming a little more settled and a little more comfortable for everyone.

While it has taken a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of work, slowly Rory and Logan are settling into more of a routine with co-parenting Elleigh.

In short, everything is going as well as can be expected under their circumstances.

#

It's a typical Sunday night when there's an expected knock at the door. Within seconds, a young voice is bellowing throughout the house.

"He's here, mom! Dad's here!"

Logan never tires of hearing his daughter's excitement through the walls and unopened door whenever he arrives, resulting in a proud smile on the man's face. Seconds later, the door flings open and Elle manages to throw herself into her father's arms despite both his hands being full. "Hi dad!"

"My girl! How are you, sweetie?"

"Good!" Elle responds, before proceeding to tell him _all_ about her day, her week and her year. "Come in!"

After the initial greetings, the father and daughter eventually make their way further through the house to where Rory is in the kitchen preparing the foods for the evening that require little more than opening packets or boxes and the occasional reheating.

"Hey Ace" Logan greets as he strolls into the kitchen with Elle.

Rory puts down the freshly-popped bag of popcorn that she'd been microwaving on the bench as the exes briefly share a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"So what's the movie tonight?"

The mother and daughter had invited Logan over, for the three of them to hang out together and have a movie night.

In response to Logan's question, Rory looks to their daughter and waits for Elle to fill her father in, knowing that she had been the one to decide that for the three of them.

"Well, I want to break the rules, tonight! We're actually watching a TV show. Have you heard of _McLeod's Daughters_? Mom and I have been addicted to it."

Logan scrunches his face up a little, conveying the fact that he hasn't heard of the series, as much as he might try to recall it. Then again, he'd never been a huge fan of TV since he's never really had the time for it.

"It's an Aussie show, set on a farm in the outback, very feminist..." Rory explains, adding to what her daughter had told him. "My mom loves it too. And, since we've started watching it, Elle's decided that she wants to be a jillaroo now."

Logan just chuckles, looking over to his daughter. He just can't help the overwhelming feeling of pride for everything that she says and everything that she does. "I bet that my parents are just going to _love_ that idea. You'll have to tell Finn though, Elle, he'll be very proud."

Elle beams at her father's advice and the idea of telling her uncle before she keeps talking, explaining the series, the characters and the episodes to Logan, catching him up, detail by detail.

Rory interrupts Elle's explanation of the main love triangle to inform the father and daughter that she'll be back shortly, telling them that she's just going out to pick up dinner.

"So what do you want to do now, Nance? We have a bit of time to kill before your mom gets back."

"Wanna play truth or dare? Steve, Kwan and I have been playing it during lunchtime a lot lately."

Logan grins at the suggestion, having a little throwback moment as he tries to remember the last time he'd played it. This provides an excellent distraction as he tries not to worry and spend too much time thinking about what any of the dares might entail, considering that his daughter has just told him that she plays the game with two _boys_.

"Truth or dare... Wow. I haven't played truth or dare in a _long_ time. Sure."

Elle claps her hands together excitably at the done-deal. "Great! Truth or dare, dad?"

As she gets the game started, she leads Logan into her room and takes a seat on the side of her bed. He walks in after her and sits on the ground in front of her, legs crossed comfortably.

"Uh, dare."

"I like dares" Elle grins, ever her father's daughter. "I dare you to go and hide the coffee in the kitchen from my mom... But, you have to tell **me** where it is."

Logan jumps up and doesn't tell Elleigh about how he used to do that very thing to her mother, back in the day, when he shared an apartment with Rory. Instead, he just silently reflects on the past for himself. It had started when Logan had heard Lorelai grumble about how Luke used to do the same to her, in his feeble attempts to try and get her to give up caffeine. However, the same thing was always more of a game to Rory and Logan... Every now and then he'd hide her coffee supply, while she'd hide his booze.

Logan fulfills his dare, hiding the enormous coffee canister in a big soup saucepan he had found in the very back of a cupboard in kitchen. He's _sure_ that the saucepan had never been touched; it still had its price tag on it.

Then, after Logan's dare, the game of truth or dare continues with Elleigh being dared to prank-call Lorelai using Logan's phone. A round of truth follows it with Logan learning that centipedes are Elle's biggest fear, before she poses the next question to him.

"Why do you call my mom, 'Ace'?"

"Good question, kiddo. Well, the story goes that I first met your mom when we were in college. We were both working on the paper there, _The Yale Daily News_. Anyway, she tried to get information from me for a scoop that she was working on, a bit like how you did. So, then after that, I started calling her 'Ace', short for 'ace reporter' because I knew she wouldn't stop until she got her scoop, and then the nickname has just stuck ever since."

"It's a bit like how you call me 'Nance', like _Nancy Drew_."

"It is..." Logan says with a smile, realising how similar the only two nicknames that he's assigned to people had turned out to be.

Elle chooses another dare, being told to avoid the word 'and' for an hour. Next, Logan chooses truth, before warning her that this should probably be the last round they play; Rory will be back soon. Consequently, Elle's mind springs to action with the sudden deadline, she works out what she _really_ wants to know; what's important for her to find out about.

"Okay, truth... Dad... Do you still love my mom?"

Logan is floored by the question _and_ the fact that it's coming from his daughter.

He doesn't have to think about his answer to Elleigh's question. Rather, he only needs to consider whether or not he'll share the answer with his daughter.

There's an impromptu silence after Elle's question as Logan tries to assess the situation, what to do, what to say and what outcome and ramifications either option will have. As he quickly thinks it over and weighs up his options, Logan can't escape Elleigh's intense gaze. Her eyes are locked on him as she waits for the answer to her question.

So, under pressure and in that moment, Logan sees it as a perfect opportunity to build trust in each other.

"Can you keep a secret?" Logan questions, receiving the biggest grin and a bouncing nod from the blonde girl sitting in front of him.

Hesitantly, he shuffles closer to Elle and leans in to where she's gesturing to whisper the answer in her ear, as though they aren't the only ones home.

He begins to lean towards her ear, tucking a stray piece of blonde hair behind his daughter's ear before whispering into it.

"I always have, Elle."

#

Rory had arrived home again just minutes after the big question that Elle had posed to her father. The trio carried on as normal, but Logan was mentally second-guessing his quickfire decision that he had made when he was stuck, lodged, between a rock and a hard place.

After dinner, the three migrate to the lounge, where the TV and the munchies are all ready and waiting. Upon catching sight of the abundance of food that is sitting on the coffee table, the food that she knows she didn't buy, Rory jokingly teases the man in the room who she can safely assume brought it all along.

"Logan, you didn't have to bring all that. I **do** feed Elle _occasionally_ , you know" Rory says as the mother and daughter share a smile at her joke.

"Well, I know how important the catering is with copious amounts of junk food for a Gilmore movie night, so I figured it was only right for me to chip in, too."

"Thanks..." Rory just replies with a small smile as she begins opening up the munchies for the evening before bringing over their dinner; half a dozen small boxes of assorted Chinese food.

While Rory prepares the food and the DVD, Logan and Elle get comfy on the couch. Watching the father and daughter share the big couch, Rory goes to take a seat on the single-seater, closest to the TV before being ordered around by her daughter.

"Come join us here, mom" Elle says, patting the space on the lounge beside her.

It takes only a moment of thought before Rory accepts Elleigh's invitation and the blonde child is the happiest girl on earth as she is comfortably sandwiched between both of her parents, either side of her, as they settle in for the night...

It almost feels like they are a normal family... _almost_. Well, at least it's the closest that Elleigh has ever felt to feeling that way...

#

By 11 that night and after five episodes straight of binge-watching, Elleigh is fast asleep and dead to the world.

While Elle had originally begun the night sitting in the middle of the lounge, vertically, she has slowly grown closer and closer to achieving a horizontal angle. Currently she is leaning to the left with her head resting comfortably on her father as her legs are kicked over her mother's lap.

In the silence, both of the little girl's parents are gazing adoringly at and admiring their sleeping daughter as they sit either side of her.

"She's so peaceful... She looks so much younger when she's asleep" Logan comments, quietly whispering to Rory in the dark.

The room is dark, the TV has long been turned off and they can _just_ see each other's forms and expressions in the soft lighting from the hallway light and from where illumination pours in from the street-lights outside.

"She does... I've always loved watching her sleep. Even if I've had a bad day or something, just watching her there and watching her sleep, it just does wonders."

"You know, I still can't get over the fact that _we_ made _her_ , Ace... Best thing I've ever done."

Even in the darkness, Rory can see, Rory _knows_ that Logan is giving her that smirk that is as evident in his eyes as it is on his lips... That smirk that just makes her melt... That smirk that has _always_ made her melt... That smirk which has always been his trump card over her...

She looks away, blushing, almost as though she is embarrassed. When her eyes return to Logan's she notes that his smirk, that grin of confidence has grown exponentially at the fact that she couldn't keep eye-contact; the fact that she couldn't help the light pink blush spread across her fair cheeks.

Even though it's late and even though it's dark, he can sense her embarrassment, her slight hesitation, so he playfully taps her foot with his own, where they are seated on the lounge.

"No need to blush, Ace..."

She looks at him more confidently this time, as though trying to convince him that she _so_ was not blushing, that he _so_ got that wrong... But it _so_ does not work.

Instead, they just smile and share one another's smiles in the dark.

It has been such a good night...

 _Maybe_ it's because it's been such a good night. _Maybe_ it's because it almost feels like falling into an old routine, wearing your most comfortable jumper... _Maybe_ it's because Rory and Logan are finally comfortable with each other and in each other's company again, just like when they had been dating and living together through college... _Maybe_ it's the reciprocal feeling of love and pride with their daughter sleeping between them...

However, whatever the reason is, right there and in that moment as Rory and Logan smile at each other silently, it feels like ten years _haven't_ passed. And, suddenly Rory feels a surge of butterflies ripple in her stomach from the man sharing the couch with her... It feels like a _moment_. But, the moment and Rory's feeling is interrupted as Elleigh suddenly jolts a little, still fast asleep, as she takes a big gasp of air and her elbow flies into Logan's leg at the sudden jerk of movement.

"Before I go, I can move Elleigh and carry her to her bed. She'll be so sore in the morning if she stays like this" Logan says with a small chuckle, looking at the number of different angles that his daughter's body is sprawled out into.

"Stay... _if you want_. I mean, do you want to go out the front and chat for a bit?"

Rory isn't ready for the night to end just yet.

So, when Logan replies, with a smile, she can't help but feel that maybe, _just maybe_ , after all these years they still stand a chance...

"Sure. I'd like that."

... _Maybe, just maybe_...

* * *

 **Massive thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. I really appreciate the ongoing support!**

 **Next chapter : What will happen as they talk in the middle of the night, with their daughter fast asleep? Then, Lorelai is not happy when she learns something about Logan. **


	25. I Wish Our Past Was Different

**CHAPTER 25: I Wish Our Past Was Different**

Seeing that Elle had fallen asleep between them as the binge-watching session drew to a close, Rory and Logan had decided to relocate outside, to where they are currently standing beside each other. Their positions are mirrored as looking out on the street, holding onto to the balustrade under the veranda of Rory's house-front.

"I've had a really good time tonight, with both of you. Thank you for letting me spend as much time as I can with her, Ace. I appreciate it."

"After everything, it's the least I can do... I know it's silly since I was the one in control the whole time, but I am really glad that the truth's out now. I'm glad that you both have the opportunity to get to know each other."

Logan just nods, gazing over to Rory with a small smile before looking out onto the dark street that is poorly illuminated by scattered street lights as the two stand together in silence.

"Hey Ace?" Logan eventually asks, speaking up in the darkness, checking with Rory for her approval to ask her a question. She prompts him, encouraging him to continue speaking, so, he does so.

"There's something that I've always wanted to know. It's something that I've wondered about so many times over the last ten years, but then since giving Elleigh that engagement ring, the same question has resurfaced again... I always wondered whether or not you had ever thought about marrying me. I mean, _I_ always felt like that had been on the cards with us, I know I obviously got that wrong, but I've always wondered just how wrong and how off the mark I was with gauging where we were both at... So, yeah, did you ever _think_ about marrying me?"

That question has plagued Logan for years. He's always beaten himself up over how just how wrong he had been in assuming that they were both ready to marry. In fact, he's lost count of the number of times that he's asked himself whether it had only _ever_ been one-sided.

"Yeah, I did, Logan... I had _definitely_ thought about it a number of times. In fact, I loved the _idea_ of being married to you."

"I've come to terms with the rejection and I know it won't change the past now, but in that case, why did you say no?"

Rory takes a deep breath, preparing herself for the explanation that she feels will hurt him in some way, shape or form. There's no way she can express herself without hurting him.

"Like I said, a part of me loved the idea of marrying you... But, I couldn't get something out of my mind. I couldn't stop thinking about my grandparents. As happy as they are being that way, I didn't want us to be them... I didn't want to just be known as 'Logan's wife' or 'Mrs. Huntzberger'. I didn't want to despise you if that happened. I didn't want to blame you if I couldn't give my career a real go."

Logan nods in understanding. However, his brows furrow a little as his small frown grows until he counters from his perspective.

"I never would have expected that of you, Ace. I never wanted you to be my DAR wife, someone to hang off my arm while I did all the business talk. In fact, I would have been happy for you to be more successful than me. I would have been happy if I was the one who got home first and made dinner every night... Actually, scrap that, I know your cooking skills – I'd _rather_ be the one making dinner."

The two share a small laugh at the joke as Rory gives Logan's shoulder a light, playful slap.

As they look at each other with light, amused eyes while they share a smile, only just in that moment do they notice how close that they have become. Either during the last joke or sometime before that they had subconsciously moved, unknowingly moving close and closer to each other as they stand together on her balcony.

"Seriously though, I'm sorry, Logan. I wanted my career, but I wanted to be with you to pursue that career."

"I shouldn't have pushed for all or nothing... I think I was just so sold on the idea of marrying you that you saying no wasn't even on my radar. I didn't even think of it as an option. In all honesty, I think it broke my pride as much as it broke my heart. Really, I just did an excellent job at pushing you away... Such an idiot" Logan sighs, muttering under his breath about himself.

A sad silence falls between the two as they reflect on the past and the mistakes that both of them had made on the night that Logan had proposed marriage and from that moment onward.

"Imagine if you were even just a month further along with Elle, or if you picked up on the symptoms earlier... Just imagine how different our lives could have been."

Logan could have known that Rory was pregnant before they'd broken up. Rory might not have had the chance to chicken out and let ten years pass by before Logan and their daughter knew the truth. They might have been a happy family for all those years. They might have been a happily married couple, knowing her career was already being pushed to the side to raise their daughter. Even, just a ' _yes'_ instead of the ' _no'_ had the potential to change their whole world.

Logan sighs while Rory just feels a pang of guilt as they both consider the flow-on effect of if she had of known about her pregnancy earlier than she did. It's painful to think about just how different and just how much _better_ things between them had the potential to be...

A few minutes of silence pass by before Rory once again notes how close they have become in this moment, physically... She remembers the smile, the moment, which they had shared at the end of their binge-watching... She feels all the emotions of the deep and meaningful conversation that they have just shared... And, suddenly, she has no control of herself as she tries to close the gap between herself and Logan even more.

Despite a decade passing between this very moment and the last time that they had done this, they both become caught up, entrapped, in the nostalgia and familiarity of the feeling as their heads and their lips draw closer and closer. But, suddenly, Logan snaps back to reality and pulls away just before their lips meet and just before they would have shared the inevitable kiss.

"I'm sorry, Ace... I _can't_."

#

The following morning and after dropping Elleigh off at school, Rory just traipses straight into her childhood home, knowing her mom will only be starting at work later on today.

"Mooooom" Rory wails to get her mother's attention and to determine her whereabouts in the house.

There is a yell back from Lorelai who announces that she's coming, with the voice seeming to originate from the second storey of Rory's childhood home.

However, Rory doesn't wait for her mom before she begins to talk and explain what she desperately needs to get off her chest.

"Mom, I tried to kiss Logan... What was I thinking?!"

"You kissed Logan?!"

" _Tried_ to... He pulled back."

Lorelai gawks at her daughter, trying to determine the more shocking part... The fact that Rory had almost _kissed_ Logan or that _he_ had been the one to stop it.

"So where was Elleigh?"

"Asleep inside... We were just talking out the front of my place. You see, the three of us had such a good night together last night and then after Elle fell asleep, I felt like we had a little moment. So, we went outside and started talking about the past and how different it all could have been and I just didn't even stop to think. I think that my heart raced ahead of my head..."

"Oh. Wow... Was that what you guys were talking about? Giving your relationship a second chance, so then you just went for it?"

Lorelai pulls her daughter over to the well-worn couch in the center of the room, getting comfy for the explanations that she's waiting to hear.

"Not really... We weren't talking about current _us_ so much. But like I said, it was so comfortable; it was just like being with him in the past, only with Elle now too. Then, yeah, I went and messed it all up..."

"So _he_ pulled back when you tried to kiss him? Did he say why?"

Rory just shakes her head shamefully, resting her head in her hands, feeling riddled with guilt.

"No... So _there's_ a fun discussion I get to look forward to. I'm such an idiot! We were doing SO well. The three of us were doing great together and then I go and blow it."

"So you still have feelings for baby daddy, huh?"

Lorelai looks at her daughter intently. Initially, Rory tries to fight of her mother's glance, but she knows that there's no point. Her mother knows her better than she knows herself; there's no point in trying to hide that.

"Honestly, I think I always have... I never really felt like I moved past the breakup. I never moved on from him."

Lorelai just nods. She knows her daughter and for years now she has suspected what Rory herself has just admitted to.

There's a silence as Lorelai wraps an arm around her grown-up daughter. After all, you're never too old for your mother's comfort. However, the moment ends prematurely as Lorelai catches sight of a clock in the corner.

Giving Rory one final, quick squeeze from where she had collapsed into her mother's arms, Lorelai jolts up and starts racing around. She bellows out to her daughter as she fetches her purse, her shoes and gets ready to hit the road.

"Oh shoot! Sorry hun. I really have to head off to work now. I'm replacing Michel and I already owe him 600 billion favours. I'll talk to you more about it later, but until then, don't go throwing yourself at baby-daddy and giving Elle any siblings!"

Rory just rolls her eyes. After all, _only_ her mother would go from comforting her child one second, to teasing them the very next...

#

"Welcome to the Dragonfly Inn. I'm Lorelai and I'll be your hostess during your stay. If there's anything that I can do or arrange for you, please let me know."

After she gets her customary spiel out of the way, Lorelai becomes more relaxed and conversational with the friendly young girl under the name of Ava Walsh that's checking in for her stay at the Inn. As a rough estimate, Lorelai would guess that she's just a little younger than Rory is.

"Thanks, Lorelai... I've never stayed in Stars Hollow before. It's just lovely!"

"Oh yeah?"

"My boyfriend moved here not long ago. It's been a little while since we've met so I thought I'd come down for a long weekend and surprise him. He's only new so you might not know him."

"Try me if you like; Stars Hollow is a _very_ small town... We even have only **one** Smith family, amazingly."

"Logan..." the girl says with a smile. Lorelai's attention has already been piqued. She doesn't _need_ the girl to elaborate on the last name, but she does.

"Logan Huntzberger."

* * *

 **So a bit of a case of one step forward, two steps back! Why did Logan never mention Ava? Will Lorelai go to Logan or straight to Rory? Hang in there, though! The next chapter should make a lot of things a bit clearer.**

 **Thank you to everyone who read & reviewed the last chapter of the story. I am still so amazed by the response and support from you all. And, this story has reached over 400 reviews?! Thank you, thank you, thank you to every single one of you that has contributed to that number of the course of this story so far. I hope you'll all continue to enjoy the journey!**

 **Next chapter : Lorelai's out for blood. Logan does a whole of lot of talking to everyone... **


	26. Misunderstandings

**CHAPTER 26: Misunderstandings**

It's approaching dinnertime the following day, the day after the movie night and the day after Rory had tried to kiss Logan when the man himself hears a knock at his front door. Then, before he even has a chance to stand up from where he's seated at his big, lonely dining table, the knock has been repeated again, frantically.

Another three, loud and frantic knocks are heard throughout the house, all within seconds of each other, before he has even reached his lounge room.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Logan bellows out on the off-chance that whoever is on the other side of the door will hear him. Whoever it is has got to be some type of Olympian if they'd expect him to get to the front door any faster than he is.

When Logan reaches his front door, he quickly opens it to reveal his daughter's grandmother, Lorelai. Immediately he can tell that she is cross, with her lips in a tight pout, before she begins speaking just as quickly as she had been knocking. "Is Elleigh here?!"

"No, she's with Rory until tomorrow... Why? Can I help you Lorelai?"

It's as though after checking that her granddaughter isn't with him and following a quick nod in response to Logan's question, Lorelai can _finally_ unleash her fury at her daughter's former flame.

"It's come to my knowledge that you have a girlfriend."

Logan's arms cross in front of his chest. He realises that given how furious Lorelai looks, he's going to need to ramp up the self-confidence or she'll leave him for dead.

"Oh yeah?"

" _Oh yeah_. Now, for the Inn's six-hundred, stupid confidentiality clauses, I can't disclose _who_ that person is, but I figure you know _exactly_ who I'm talking about. I also know what happened between you and Rory the other night and I know that Rory doesn't have a clue that you're with someone else."

"I don't know where you're getting all this from, not to mention why it has anything to do with you..."

Lorelai's tight, cross pout increases exponentially as she takes a step closer towards Logan, intensifying her body language.

"I'll tell you why it has _everything_ to do with me" Lorelai hisses, zeroing in closer and closer to the younger man in front of her, so as to make her point. "Because, if you dare toy with either my daughter **or** my granddaughter and if you dare break either of those girl's hearts, I will make damn sure that your life is not worth living. This is your one and only chance to come clean and do the right thing by those girls, Huntzberger."

Without another word and without giving Logan the chance to defend himself or respond, Lorelai the fiercely protective mother and grandmother has spun on her heel and rushed off as quickly and as frantically as the rest of the meeting had been, leaving Logan standing there alone on his doorstep, head spinning.

#

Early the following morning, another visitor arrives on Logan's front doorstep.

The next visitor to Logan's door only knocks twice, nowhere near as frantically, before he has a chance to reach the front door. Then, as the opens his front door, he is greeted by the presence of the young, attractive blonde girl who he hasn't seen in about three months, only confirming his suspicions over the abrupt visit that Lorelai had paid to him yesterday.

"Surprise!"

Logan has to feign a look of a surprise at the presence of the girl standing in front of him at his doorstep. He has to appear as though he _hasn't_ already reached the conclusion that Ava's in town, thanks to Lorelai's visit yesterday.

"Ava... What are you doing here?"

The young blonde girl throws her arms around the man standing before her, the man who he has just opened his front door to her.

"It's been so long and I know that you've been busy, so I thought I'd come and surprise you."

As the two break apart from the embrace, Logan senses that Ava's moving in for more than a hug, so he is quick to glide his hands down her arms instead with their arms keeping some distance between them, without it making for an uncomfortable or obvious rejection.

"It's good to see you, but how come you're here? It's been months..."

"I know... I understand that you've been busy, especially since you moved. But, I got a couple of days off work, so I thought that I'd be a good girlfriend and come to you instead so that we could have a bit of 'us' time, as long as that suits you."

Seeing the happiness on the girl's face, Logan cringes. His stomach churns knowing that he's going to have to be the bearer of bad news and crush that happiness.

"Ava... What do you mean? There is no 'us'... At least I didn't think that there was. We only went on two dates. We haven't spoken in weeks. I didn't realise that we were together, I didn't realise you thought that we were. I'm sorry if I led you on at all, but we're not together..."

Logan's voice is soft and delicate as he tries to gently let her down, but it's clearly not enough. Ava's face drops visibly, her expression instantly becoming downcast as she stands there, thinking everything through, including what Logan is telling her.

"Oh... Oh, okay. I guess that's a bit awkward then. I didn't realise, I'm sorry."

The young girl's body language changes exponentially as she speaks. Initially she'd been confident and happy; feeling like her presence would be welcomed at the surprise visit. Yet, now with her shoulders slumped and her head looking down to the ground, you can tell that she doesn't feel welcome on Logan's doorstep.

"Hey, why don't you come in for a drink. Have you had breakfast yet? I can fix you something up. Sure, there was a mix up, but this is the very least that I can do for _you_ when you've come all this way for _me_."

Ava glances over at Logan hesitantly before she gives him a small smile in response to the nod of reassurance he gives her to confirm that he means his offer. The two then move through to the lounge room where Logan offers her a drink, fetching a beer for himself and a lemonade for Ava. Ava takes a seat right in the middle of Logan's largest lounge as he takes a seat on one of single-seat recliners.

"I'm sorry. I see it all now..." Ava says, looking down to her glass of lemonade, shaking her head as though she's disappointed in herself. "If a guy goes a couple of months without checking in with you then _that_ should tell you something. I knew you were busy so I didn't want to pressure you or seem clingy and needy... I thought that I'd let it pass, that you'd contact me when things died down. I guess it's actually a good thing that I came this weekend cause I guess I would have been waiting for _quite_ a while..."

Logan shoots her an empathetic look. It was such a simple misunderstanding in which he had seen a very different shade of grey to what Ava had in the grey area that they had both been stuck in. "I really am sorry, Ava. If there's anything I can do..."

"Ah, don't be silly. It serves me right to learn my lesson. I should have had a bit more confirmation before I started telling every man and his dog that I was Logan Huntzberger's girlfriend..."

Logan cringes. "Well, if it makes it any easier, you can tell those people that you dumped _me_. More power to you."

Ava gives Logan a shy, but appreciative smile. "Thanks for the offer, but I think I'm best off sticking to the truth. No good ever comes from lying... _Even_ when it feels like the easier at the time and no matter how humiliating the truth might be..."

"Look, I really am sorry if I gave you the wrong impression or if I led you on at all to think that it was anything more than just two, casual dates. I'm sorry if there's anything that I could have done to make it clearer that we weren't an item, or that _I_ didn't think we were, at least."

They really had just been two, casual dates that started and ended with talking. A hug and kiss on the cheek at the beginning and end was as intimate as the two dates had been and there had been no communication since the night of the second.

"Don't worry, Logan. It's both our faults for not being clearer with the other person. _It's all good_. But, let's forget about my awkward little surprise and move onto something else... So how come you're living _here_? It's a cute town, but I didn't think it would be your scene, especially in comparison to the city."

"I moved to be closer to family..."

"Your parents...? _They_ live in this town?"

The look on Ava's face clearly shows that she seems even more surprised by the idea of Logan's _parents_ living in Stars Hollow than she does at the idea of _him_ moving here. Now, Ava has never met the senior generation of Huntzberger's personally, but much like anyone else who so much as turns on the TV or reads a newspaper, she most certainly knows who they are, along with the reputation they hold in the public eye.

At her question and her readable expression of shock to go along with it, Logan just chuckles to himself, not imagining himself moving _anywhere_ for the sake of being closer to his parents.

"No. Not my parents... I've only recently learnt that I'm a father. This is _my daughter's_ hometown. I moved here to be closer to her and more involved in her life."

"Aw, congratulations, Logan... What's her name?"

"Elleigh... She's nine. She's the reason why I moved here, so that I could be more involved in her life."

"That's great... I hope it all goes well for you" Ava responds with a genuine smile, taking a deep breath as she puts her glass down on the coffee table and stands up from where she's seated on his lounge. "Now, thank you for going so lightly on me after the whole mix up, Logan, but I think it's time for me to leave now."

Logan follows Ava's lead, putting his drink down and standing up too. The two share a hug before Ava picks up her bag and heads for the front door with Logan following behind to see her out.

"Well, all the best... I hope everything goes well for you with being closer to your daughter."

"Thanks Ava. Now, like I said before, I really am sorry if I said or did anything that got misconstrued or made you believe that we've been 'together' for the last few months. You're a great girl and it won't be long before you find someone for real. You're going to make someone out there a very lucky guy. I really do mean that."

Ava gives the young entrepreneur a final, appreciative smile before taking her leave.

"Thank you. Now goodbye, Logan..."

#

Later that day and just before he has to collect Elleigh from school, Logan detours via the home of his daughter and the mother of his child.

"What are you doing here, Logan?"

Rory's arms are crossed in front of herself defensively, although her expression gives away that she's feeling anything _other_ than strong and confident. After all, although she's frowning, Rory looks to be more sad than mad; Logan _knows_ the difference.

"Has your mom spoken to you today?"

"Yeah... So you better get back to your girlfriend."

Logan sighs, scrunching his eyes closed. He stands in front of Rory with one hand on his hip and the other held out, open, in front of him to try and gesture as he begins to explain to Rory.

"I don't _have_ a girlfriend. I haven't been in a relationship for _years_. In fact, there's only been a handful of dates and one brief relationship since you."

"But, my mom said-"

Logan cuts her off, knowing what Rory's going to say next before she has a chance to finish saying it.

"Look, there were a few misunderstandings. A girl turned up at the Inn today, calling herself my girlfriend... Your mom heard this and did a pretty damn good job at confronting me. The girl came and visited me today and we talked. Ava, that's her name, and I had a misunderstanding. She thought we were in a relationship and I thought we were anything but."

Rory bites her lip as she listens, tightening her arms that stay crossed in front of herself.

"And _how_ does that happen? Were you playing another game of 'no-strings'? Cause I know how the girl could end up confused..."

"No. We'd been on _two_ dates. Our last date was three months ago and it just never went anywhere. Neither of us has even texted the other in six weeks! Before yesterday, I didn't even know that I had a girlfriend to handle, but I have handled it... Ava understands that we both got our wires crossed, but its all good."

Rory's face softens a little as she hears Logan out, although her arms still stay tightly crossed together.

"I figured she – _Ava_ \- was the reason why you pulled back the other night when we were talking outside, after the movie..."

Logan shakes his head, looking Rory directly in the eye as she uncrosses her arms, her body language slowly softening in comparison to when he had first arrived at her doorstep this afternoon.

"No... I feel bad for it now, but I've barely even given Ava a second thought since the last date. Now, trust me, it took self control, but I pulled away the other night because it was too much for me, too fast."

Logan notices Rory's body language as her gaze falls to the ground, as though she's embarrassed or ashamed. While he doesn't change his stance on _what_ he's telling her, he does take two steps closer to her to try and close the space between them.

"I know that we haven't really talked about this but my feelings for you haven't changed. There are still feelings _there_ , but the trust isn't... You hurt me, _badly_ , Ace. You broke my heart ten years ago and then you broke it all over again when I found out about Elle. I've still got the scars from being burnt by you and in that moment _that_ was what held me back. I would need to know that you're all in too _before_ I could invest myself in going there with you again..."

* * *

 **So, I hope you all enjoyed how the 'Ava issue' turned out. I didn't want it to be a huge drama, just an innocent misunderstanding. After all, I feel like in the real world and especially very early on in relationships, without it being anyone's fault, miscommunication is an easy trap to fall into and it's easy for two people to misconstrue the same thing, which is something I wanted to depict. However, just because Logan has no girlfriend, that doesn't mean that things are going to fall into place for him and Rory quite so easily...**

 **Also, thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. As always, I really appreciate the feedback. Thank you!**

 **Next chapter: Elle has her first sleepover at her father's house. Then, Logan is pushed to action.**


	27. A Gentle Push

**CHAPTER 27: A Gentle Push**

After Rory and Logan's deep and meaningful, the damage control after their near-kiss, they both managed to put it behind them as life carried on.

Despite how his relationship with Elleigh is flourishing, Logan's work-life has been taking a toll on him due to his enormous workdays. He heads into New York in the early hours of the morning, to be there and get started before the business day begins. He goes to his meetings, takes his phone calls and deals with all the curve-balls of the day, before lunchtime when he takes the two and a half hour trip back home, in order to collect Elle from school at 3:30. Then, after spending the afternoon with his daughter before taking Elle back to Rory, Logan returns home and the phone calls continue well into the night with international affiliates, clients and representatives.

Consequently, after just a few hours of sleep each night, Logan is up again in the very early hours of the morning, to start his day all over again...

Each day, Logan's left feeling a little heavier, a little hazier and a little more like his tiredness is never going to be able to be undone.

However, for Logan, it's all worth it. Burning the candle at both ends and the tired feeling that he's become used to living his life with is _all_ worth it to make his relationship with Elle work...

The father and daughter have made another step in the right direction after Elleigh mentioned to Rory that she'd like to try and have her first sleepover at Logan's house. Rory relayed that information back to Logan who invited his daughter to sleepover at his house for the first time that Saturday. Before now, Elle has been happier to just hang out with her father after school, on the weekends or with Rory and then return to her childhood home to be with her mother for the evenings.

So, tonight marks another first in Logan and Elleigh's lives together...

#

After spending most of the day with her mother, Elle is dropped off at her father's house by Rory who leaves not long after arriving, leaving the two alone to get settled.

As Logan carries Elle's overnight bag upstairs to her bedroom -the room beside his- his daughter strolls along behind him.

Her room at Logan's is still quite simple and plain. He'd just bought her some basic furniture, allowing her to decorate and modify her room how she pleases. So, apart from a small jewellery tree, a big teddy bear and a pink and purple mandala-style elephant wall canvas that she had chosen out, her room is still quite bare.

"It's weird. I can't remember the last time that I slept in a different bed to my one at mom's house" Elle muses as Logan places her bag and pillow down onto her freshly made bed. Rory suggested that she bring her own pillow just as some familiarity and comfort in what is a new room, new bed and relatively new house for the child.

"If you can't settle or if you wake up at all during the night, feel free to wake me. We can watch a movie or something and chill" Logan says with a smile to reassure his daughter.

Elle smiles back as she begins to pull the few items that she has brought out of her overnight bag, trying to get herself sorted and settled in before she can go back to hanging out with her dad.

"It feels weird, but I've been really excited about it" she says as she tucks her pyjamas under the pillow of her bed.

He grins at her admission, standing and watching for a few moments as she unpacks her stuff –placing a book and pink notebook on her bedside table along with her clothes for tomorrow in the very big and very empty chest of drawers- before he finds a new purpose than lingering and watching her.

"Hey, I might go downstairs and order some pizza. Then when you're ready, we can play a game, watch a movie, whatever you want..."

"Sounds good – make sure you get garlic bread, too!"

Listening to Elle's request, Logan chuckles to himself at the reminder that Rory is _most definitely_ the mother of his child.

He turns away and begins to walk off, out of his daughter's room before she grabs his attention and stops him in his tracks.

"Hey dad... I'm really glad I know you now. I wish I always did."

Logan gives Elle a sad smile. It breaks his heart and fills it with love, all at the same time. He re-enters the room, headed straight for his daughter, wrapping his arms around her as they hug for a few moments.

"I'm really, _really_ glad I know you too, my girl."

A smile erupts over Elleigh's face at Logan's response and the embrace, before they pull away from each other. While he continues on course to getting dinner organised, she turns back to her bag, her face freshly lit up at the moment with her father.

#

Over the evening, Logan and Elleigh begin with watching a movie on Netflix as they eat their pizza (and garlic bread!), having a picnic in front of the TV. After dinner, they moved onto the games. They started off with a game of _Cluedo_ before trading the board game for the TV and moving onto _Mario Kart_.

After Elle well and truly beat Logan at his own game (he didn't even have to _try_ to lose), the two watched one more movie before they each headed to bed at around 10:30.

Despite his tiredness from his collection of early mornings from commuting and his late nights with phone calls for work, Logan keeps tossing and turning, listening out for every noise that he hears in the night.

 _Normally_ , Logan would be out like a light as soon as his head hits the pillow, but knowing he has precious cargo in the room next door to his, the father in training is acutely aware of every noise and every movement. Not to mention, he's been up and checked that she's still alive and safe in her room several times too... This parenting gig is exhausting business...

When Logan hears a creak from the bed in the room next door, as well as a little trail of small footsteps, he throws the quilt off of himself, getting up and following the noise too.

With her eyes open wide in fright, Elleigh freezes instantly when she sees her father leaving his room too, as she walks out of hers.

"Nance, are you okay sweetie?"

"You scared me" she giggles nervously, a hand clapped over her chest. After the fright, she walks over towards him. "I'm okay. I can't sleep..."

Logan nods with understanding, placing an arm around her shoulders comfortingly as he guides her towards the staircase and they move from the second-story to the first.

"That's not good...Want a hot chocolate? Now I _know_ you're your mother's daughter, but I'm putting my foot down. No coffee till morning. Your mom will have my head if you get no sleep tonight" Logan smiles, not showing quite enough conviction to pull off strict-dad.

"Yes please... Do you have marshmallows?"

Logan's face scrunches up as he thinks about his daughter's question. "I'll have to check. I actually think I might... I have a feeling that your Uncle Colin bought me a stack of marshmallows along with a whole lot of other random stuff he got at _Doose's_ the last time that he was here."

"Ooh, then yes please" Elle says with a hopeful grin as the father and daughter walk through the lounge room and into the kitchen. She takes a seat at the counter-top, watching Logan as he flicks the kettle on and starts rummaging through his pantry that is far bigger than a bachelor needs.

Resurfacing from and leaving his pantry successful with a bag of marshmallows in-hand, Logan gives his daughter his trademark smirk, planning to invite her to join him as a partner-in-crime for the late-night hot chocolate.

"Want to up the ante? It's not for the faint-hearted, my girl..."

Elleigh nods enthusiastically, watching with keen anticipation as she waits for Logan to impress her with his 'loaded' hot chocolate.

"Now, one night when I was a freshman in college, your uncles and I had a loaded hot chocolate competition. It was a really long time ago now so I'm not perfectly clear on the concoctions, but I'm going off of what I can remember..."

Barely ten minutes later, the two have made and had their amped-up hot chocolates.

Going off of his memory, Logan thought that in college, he had added peanut butter to his hot chocolates, Finn would add macadamia nuts (despite threatening Vegemite), Colin topped his with crushed Oreo crumbs and Robert was declared the winner for adding Nutella.

Condensing all the boy's ideas into one sickening beverage, Logan groans dramatically a few minutes later after just a couple of mouthfuls, before looking over to his daughter's near-empty cup.

"Man, Elle... I'm impressed. I could barely get through a third of mine."

"I'm a Gilmore" his daughter simply states with a shrug. "We've been in training for times like this my whole life."

Logan chuckles at her succinct response, knowing the complete truth of it.

"Reckon you're ready for bed now?"

Elle nods at her father's question, yawning on cue.

"Yeah I think so. Night dad... Thanks for everything tonight."

"Thank _you_ for being my little partner in crime."

The father and daughter share a smile and a hug before heading up the same stairs that they had come down together nearly half an hour earlier.

#

After dropping Elle back off at Rory's the following day, Logan has just returned home, parking himself on the lounge with a newspaper and coffee in hand as he enjoys a few minutes of silence and solitude, as much as he loved having his daughter stay with him over the night. As he shuffles in his seat and molds his body deeper into his lounge to get comfy, Logan feels the side of his leg come into contact with something hard, something digging out of the lounge.

His hand reaches into the tan leather in an attempt to retrieve whatever his leg has just felt out and then with something in his grasp, he pulls out the hardcover, spiral bound pink notebook from between the cushion and the arm of the lounge chair just seconds later.

Not only does Logan know that the pink notebook is not _his_ , he can have a pretty safe bet as to whose it _is_. After all, he's seen Elle pull it out and scrawl in it a number of times, the most recently being last night. However, although he recognises the notebook and he's seen her using it, he doesn't quite know what the content of that notebook is. He doesn't know if it's for school, if it's a diary or if it's just a notebook that she keeps on her for whatever she needs.

Holding the pink notebook in his hands, Logan hesitates opening it and flicking through it. It feels intrusive to look through her stuff, but fathers do that sort of thing, right? You know, check his daughter's not planning a siege, running off to Tibet or looking into joining a bikers gang... _Right_?

He reasons with himself that he should at least flick through it to work out whether it's important and whether there's any chance he may need to get the notebook to her urgently, before the next time he sees her, which is after school tomorrow afternoon. So, thumbing through the pages to a random page that is approximately in the middle of the notebook, Logan briefly glances over his daughter's diary entry from a few weeks back; the night after Rory had gone to kiss him.

 _Last night, mom and I had dad over to our place. We just watched movies and had dinner, but I had such a good time!_

 _... It felt like we were a family._

 _Before I knew that my dad was my dad, I always wondered what it felt like to have a proper family, not just me and mom... So, I think that was my best day in a long time 'cause that night I found out what that feels like._

 _I love both of them and I love spending time with mom or dad, but I LOVED doing it all together._

 _... I wish I had a normal family. Like Steve and Kwan._

Logan shuts the quick so quickly that it makes a clap of noise. He throws the notebook down on the lounge, out of his hands, instantly feeling guilty for looking through his daughter's diary... Or is he guiltier for what is _inside_ that diary?

Seeing those words, seeing them coming from his daughter is just the push that Logan needs.

#

After having the night to think about what he briefly read in his daughter's diary, Logan set out with one resolve the following day.

He knocks at the door and after hearing the " _I'll be there in a second!_ " from inside the home, Logan patiently waits until who he's waiting to see opens the door from the other side.

There's no greetings, no small talk. They've wasted enough time as it is.

Rather, as soon as he sees his ex-girlfriend open the door that's standing between them from the other side of it, Logan takes a long deep breath, his brown eyes staring at her intently, fixed with his focus and purpose for the reason why he is there.

"I want to give us a shot... I want to learn to trust you again... I want us to be a family."

* * *

 **So, Elle's first sleepover at Logan's! And it turns out that Elle gave her dad just the push he needed with Rory. I hope you enjoyed just a little bit of fluff as things are going to get a little more serious over the following chapters.**

 **Thank you so much to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. As always, I appreciate the support and the time that you take joining myself, Rory, Logan and Elle on this journey. I hope you continue to enjoy it!**

 **Next chapter: Logan and Rory talk it out and she gives him an answer to his proposition. Then, someone receives some devastating news. Whose life is on the line?**


	28. Before It's Too Late

**CHAPTER 28: Before It's Too Late**

 _As soon as he sees his ex-girlfriend open the door standing between them from the other side of it, Logan takes a long deep breath, his brown eyes staring at her intently, fixed with his focus and purpose for why he is there._

" _I want to give us a shot... I want us to be a family."_

#

As soon as the words have left Logan's mouth, Rory own jaw drops in surprise.

" _What_?"

The last time that this same topic had been brought up, _she_ had been the instigator after trying to plant a kiss on him late one night. In that time, Logan has done a complete 180 on his viewpoint of the matter, after he got the prod that he needed from their daughter... But are her thoughts still the same, too?

"I really want us to try again. I want us to start afresh. I want to be with you" Logan explains, rephrasing his first statements that Rory had asked for clarification on.

Then, as he speaks, Logan takes another two steps closer to the mother of his child, trying to read her expression beyond her initial surprise at his sudden and abrupt change of heart.

"What do you mean? Like, where's all this coming from, Logan?"

Logan chuckles to himself when he thinks about the answer to her question in his head. He's clearly feeling hopeful and at peace with the weight of his admission finally out in the open, before explaining to her why he had been moved to action today.

"Let's just say that I was given a little push in the right direction... _By our daughter_ , in fact. She must have accidentally left her diary at my place after the sleepover. I came across it and had a quick look to see if it was anything important in there, to check whether I needed to get it back to her sooner rather than later. Anyway, let's just say that Elleigh gave me the little push that I needed..."

Rory's face scrunches up slightly, more than a little curious by what the content of their daughter's diary could have been, to say the least.

"The point is that it helped me to acknowledge my feelings for you and the fact that despite everything that happened in the past, I want to try again... We should at least try and be a real family."

Taking a deep breath after he speaks, Logan is feeling hopeful; knowing that he's finally admitting to reciprocating the feelings that Rory had put out there a few weeks backs when she tried to kiss him after the movie night. In fact, Logan is feeling so hopeful that he doesn't bother reading Rory's body language as well as he should...

He doesn't take note of how she takes a step back from him.

He doesn't take note of how she crosses her arms in front of herself.

He doesn't take note of how she keeps looking towards the ground, rather than him.

He doesn't take note of any of the signs that she is withdrawing from him, until her words do it for him.

"Look, Logan... I'm sorry for the mixed messages. I got caught up in the moment with you that night. I tried to make a move _irrationally_. The more that I've thought about it since then, the more that I've realised that you were right to pull back."

Logan looks at her with a frown, a look of confusion. It's like he can't quite make sense of what she's saying or as though she's speaking in another language, even. Her words are foreign to him.

" _What_?"

This is the eloquent, default response that both Rory and Logan have turned to after being surprised by the other person's thoughts thus far into the discussion.

"I think that things should stay the way that they are..." Rory says convincingly, giving him a serious look as she keeps her arms crossed tightly, strengthening her own body language. "I shouldn't have thrown myself at you that night. You were right to pull away."

Logan tries to wrap his head around the fact that here he is changing his mind, trying to change his answer from that night, while Rory is standing in front of him doing the exact same thing, changing her own mind too.

This time, it's Rory pulling back out of hesitation... Initially, _she_ had wanted them to get back together, while _he_ had been reluctant; his scars from Rory still a little too raw to trust her enough to rekindle their relationship. Yet, now, this time _he_ wants them to get back together, as she had wanted at first. But, it's _Rory_ who is reluctant now, having had the time to think the idea through more thoroughly.

"Are you serious?!"

Logan scoffs, asking the question as he runs a hand through his hair in an attempt to try and manage his shock and his disbelief at Rory's 180, before he goes on to answer the question for himself.

" _Of course_... But, it's my fault, I should have expected this from you. I should have just gone with it that night, because I should have known not to expect that you wouldn't change your mind on me. After all, I wanted casual, you changed your mind on that. I give you commitment and ask you to marry me, then you change your mind on that. I say yes, agreeing to give us another shot and..."

"Hey! Unfair..." Rory says, standing up for herself with a frown.

Logan just looks at her from across the room. "Is it? Is it _really_?"

After posing the question to her, he closes his eyes and just flings a hand out as if to say 'scrap that'. Then, he's about to change the direction of the conversation to try and present his point to her further, trying to help her remember when _she_ was the one who initiated the idea of them getting back together. However, Rory jumps in first with her counter-argument.

"Look, I admit I still have feelings for you too, Logan. But, it's different to when we were together the first time around. We could be up and down and together or not and the only people we'd hurt were ourselves. But, we've got Elleigh now. We can't make her go through our highs and lows, too... We're better off just staying stable, as friends."

Logan sighs at what Rory's telling him, trying to dissuade her argument.

"Elle wants _this_. She wants us to be happy. She wants us to be a family. I know that for a fact."

Rory looks down to the ground, arms still crossed together as she just looks down, shaking her head at what Logan's trying to tell her.

"We've tried –and failed- in the past. We're in a good place with her; _both_ of us are. There are so many ways that it could go terribly wrong and just imagine what impact that would have on her. She's too old to be shielded from the impact of that; she'd know what's going on. We'd be putting so much on the line with no guarantee that we can make a success of it."

Logan sighs and rubs his face with hands, still finding it hard to believe the direction that the conversation has taken. He had been _so_ sure and _so_ confident just before she opened that front door. He had not even imagined the idea of her changing her mind. Yet, here they are and here he is trying to convince Rory to take a risk for them all over again. He never thought he'd let himself get into the same situation, after being handed back the engagement ring he'd bought for Rory all those years ago.

"Well, to me, it's beginning to feel like your life's mission is that you're intent on hurting me. I should have known that _of course_ you'd change your mind... I should know by now that you never really can commit to me, or to us, _completely_."

Logan looks crushed, despite how much he tries to hide it. Rory sighs, reading him and seeing his hurt. She tries taking a step closer to him, trying to close the gap and meet him halfway to lessen the blow.

"Look, Logan, if Elle wasn't a factor, things would be different and I would be willing to go there and try again. But, _she is_. Despite how I feel, I can't risk hurting her when everything is fine as it is."

"Do you honestly think that I would do anything and that I would even raise it as a suggestion if I didn't really, truly think that we would be able to make it work? Do you really think that I'd even see it as an option if I thought that we'd hurt Elleigh?"

Rory sighs and looks Logan straight in the eye for just a moment, before flinching and looking away nervously. Logan _knows_ that _she_ knows the answer to that question. However, with a sigh, Rory sticks to her argument and sticks to the safe choice.

"It's too much of a risk..."

"You're right. It _is_ a risk. But, hey, life's too short..."

With a final shrug and one last look in Rory's direction that shows just how crushed he is, Logan turns around and walks out of the home, feeling a lot less happy than he thought that he would be after having that discussion...

#

"I need coffee. A _lot_ of coffee" Rory announces with a groan as she drops into the seat beside her mother.

The following morning, she had arranged to meet up with Lorelai, needing to debrief after her discussion with Logan the previous day.

"Good morning sunshine. I just _love_ the rays of positivity and light that my daughter emits into my life" Lorelai replies sarcastically, in reference to Rory's grumpy, grumbling mood and downcast appearance from the moment she entered the Diner.

Rory takes no note of her mother's sarcasm, instead taking it upon herself to summon over Luke, play nice for a few seconds before demanding the much needed caffeine hit. As soon as the magic elixir is in front of her and after a few, slow, appreciative sips, Rory is finally ready to talk.

"So... Logan visited me yesterday. You know how a few weeks back, I tried to kiss him? Well, apparently he's been doing a bit of thinking since then... He wanted us to get back together."

"And?!" Lorelai says with a jolt of enthusiasm and sudden interest, begging the author for the next chapter of the story. "I can't believe that you held out from telling mommy for a whole day! Where is the trust?!"

Rory rolls her eyes at her mother's woeful, overly dramatic response, before filling her in further.

"So, Logan came over and professed how he thinks we should be together – he wants to give us and our relationship another shot. But, I told him that he was right to pull away that night. He was right because we should just stay as friends. We were always so up and down when we were together and we shouldn't have to put Elleigh through that."

Lorelai nods, suddenly becoming more serious as she listens to her daughter's explanation.

"Do you still have feelings for him?"

"Yes, but-"

Lorelai quickly interrupts her daughter, posing another question to her before she has a chance to justify herself further.

"So what do you want?"

"I want to do what's right for my daughter and to look after her."

"Well, yeah, but what do _you_ want?"

Rory rolls her eyes at her mother's repeated question, just like Lorelai had rolled her eyes at _her_ just seconds before when Rory had dodged the question.

"I want to be a good mother."

"Yeah... But what do you _want_ , Rory?"

Rory huffs at her mother with frustration.

"We're getting absolutely nowhere, you do realise?!"

The mother and daughter's discussion is interrupted by Rory's phone that begins to ring from where it's sitting on the table in front of her. She quickly picks it up and begins to take it outside before Luke catches her eye and reminds her of the ever-present diner rule.

"Weird... It's Honor. Logan's sister. She hasn't called me for a while."

Lorelai watches as her daughter leaves the diner, abiding by her step-father's 'no phones' rule far more obediently than his wife does.

The mother watches as she steps outside to take the call and answers the phone with a furrowed brow. She watches on as her daughter's face falls as quickly as her mouth drops open. Lorelai sits up straighter in her seat, tensing up as she can only _imagine_ from inside that diner -out of earshot- what words her daughter is hearing to elicit such a reaction from Rory. She watches the fear and devastation play out on her daughter's face so quickly, before the short phone call is ended. Rory pauses for a moment, taking a deep breath before making her way back inside and back over to her mother in the diner.

Seeing the expression on her daughter's face only frightens Lorelai even more. Rory looks like she's seen a ghost. She can see the moistness within her daughter's eyes, the tears that are threatening to fall.

"Rory –hun- what's wrong?" Lorelai asks with a frantic urgency in her voice. She can't hear the answer fast enough.

"It's Logan... There's been an accident."

* * *

 **Aren't they frustrating? One step forward, two steps back!**

 **Anyway, thank you so, very much to everyone who left a review and gave me their feedback on the last chapter.**

 **Next chapter : Logan's family and friends rally together. What happened to Logan and will he be okay?**


	29. An Accident?

***WARNING* Sensitive issues discussed in the latter half of the chapter.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 29: An Accident?**

" _Rory –hun- what's wrong?" Lorelai asks with a frantic urgency in her voice. She can't hear the answer fast enough._

" _It's Logan... There's been an accident."_

#

As soon as she had finished relaying the phone call from Logan's sister Honor to her mother, Rory immediately set plans into place to get herself to Hartford War Memorial Hospital.

Lorelai had offered to collect Elle from school and look after her while Rory waits at the hospital with Logan's family. Initially, Rory is hesitant over whether or not to take Elleigh to the hospital with her, not knowing how critical Logan's condition is and not knowing how traumatic it will be on her daughter. However, Rory decides to bring Elle with her and arrange for her to be collected if needed. After all, she concludes that keeping Elle from Logan in the past has never ended well. Besides, if Logan is awake, a visit from their daughter –the light of his life- will be just what he needs. Or, in the worst case scenario, Elle should be there at the risk of Logan's condition being worse than expected and as gut-wrenching as it is to imagine, she should be there if there's chance that it could be the last time...

Consequently, as soon as she left her mother at _Luke's Diner_ , Rory headed straight for the Stars Hollow Elementary School, with Lorelai offering to come by the hospital and collect Elleigh at any time if it gets too much for the young girl.

Then, as soon as she picked her daughter up from school early, the mother and daughter were on their way...

#

"Mom... Where are we going? What's going on?"

Looking over to her mother in the driver's seat of the Prius, Elleigh can see the fear in her eyes as she tries to focus on driving and the road ahead.

Elleigh _knows_ that being picked up from school early is an abnormality for her, with the last time being on the day that her great-grandfather had died...

She _knows_ the route, she _knows_ the area and she _knows_ that she's headed to the same place as the last time that she had been picked up from school early...

She _knows_ that the fear, the sadness, in her mother's eyes matches that day too...

Quickly glancing over at her daughter before her eyes return to the road, Rory grabs her daughter's hand and gives it a squeeze with one of her hands, with her other one fixed on the steering wheel. She decides that she won't tell Elle for just a few more minutes, waiting until they are parked and stationary to be able to explain it to her and comfort her.

Minutes later when her car is parked in the hospital car-park and turned off, Rory turns in her seat to look to her daughter who has her fear etched all over her face. Rory comfortingly takes Elle's smaller hands in one of hers, as she uses her other hand to stroke the side of her daughter's face.

"It's your dad, sweetheart... He's been in a car accident. He's in the hospital."

" _What_?! What happened? Is he okay?"

"Your Aunty Honor called me earlier. She said that he was in a car accident on his way home from work. But, the doctor's are looking after him really well and they're doing the best that they can to help him."

Instant upset and guilt floods over the nine-year-old's face. She knows that he was on his way home from work in order to be able to pick _her_ up from school.

"Is he going to be okay?" Elle looks at her mother, with terrified, fearful eyes. "Mom? Or is it going to be like Grandpa?"

Elleigh has a lot of grandfathers; maternal, paternal, great and step. Yet, as soon as her daughter asks her the question, Rory knows exactly _which_ Grandpa she's talking about...

She can't tell her daughter that _of course_ it won't be like that. She can't tell her daughter that _of course_ he'll okay. She can't tell her daughter that it's nothing serious and he'll be out of hospital by tomorrow... She can't tell her daughter any of that. She can't tell her daughter any of those things that would comfort her because they would all be lies.

"We'll know more when we go in, sweetie. No one really knows much right now... I'm sure everything will be okay."

No less concerned, Elle just gives her mother a feeble nod before looking down to the ground.

The two leave the car together and make their way into Hartford War Memorial, headed straight for the Intensive Care Unit on the tenth floor.

"Hi, we're here to see Logan Huntzberger" Rory says as they approach the nurses desk immediately after leaving the elevator that has taken them up to the ward of the ICU.

"Mr. Huntzberger is still in surgery. Are you family?"

Wrapping an arm around Elle's shoulders, Rory confirms the nurse's question. "She's his daughter and I'm the mother of his child. So, _yes_ , family..."

The nurse nods at Rory and her response, glancing down to her computer screen to clarify the instruction she needs to give her.

"Take the first left. Continue walking until you get to the end of the corridor and then take another left. There's a waiting room. You can wait there. The doctor will be with you shortly."

" _Thank you_ " Rory says appreciatively, her arms still around Elle's shoulder as she directs herself and her daughter through the maze of doors and corridors until it becomes evident that they have reached the place that they need to be.

In the waiting room, Rory and Elle are not the first to arrive. They instantly catch sight of Honor, who's pacing around the room, glued to her phone as she texts frantically. On the other side of the room, Finn and Colin are seated beside each other, looking like Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

"Rory! You're here" Honor exclaims, instantly pocketing her phone and racing over to wrap her in a hug.

As soon as the two girls have separated from the long, comforting hug, Honor looks down to her niece and opens her arms for another hug, this time with the younger girl. "Hi sweetheart... Now I just _bet_ you're the first person that your dad's going to want to see when he wakes up. He can't stop talking about you, honey."

Elle's aunty manages to bring a small smile to the upset little girl's face with her comment. It's just the distraction that she needs in that moment, to pull her mind away from worrying about her father.

Once Honor has greeted the two Gilmore girls, next in line are Colin and Finn who immediately up from their seats for hugs.

Rory shakes her head to herself at the sight of the boys, a small smile forming on her face as she wonders just how those two rogues had made their way into the waiting room when just minutes ago she and her daughter had been probed to ensure that they qualify as Logan's family. The boys must have upped their game from the last time when they struggled with their pitiful attempts to be classed as Logan's family after his South American stunt led to him being hospitalised all those years ago.

"Darling, how are you?" Finn asks, opening his arms to hug Rory comfortingly firstly.

After Rory and Finn break away from each other, Colin gives Rory a brief hug after having already given Elleigh a quick hug too.

Meanwhile, Finn gives Elleigh a hug and big squeeze of comfort. "How are you my darling little L?"

"I'm okay..." the typically confident nine-year-old doesn't display even an ounce of that confidence as she looks to Finn. "I'm just a bit scared about my dad."

Finn just nods. He doesn't tell her that they **all** are. Instead, he just slings an arm around Elle's shoulder protectively; like he's got her back... like he's there for his best friend's worried daughter. No matter what might happen.

After all the hugs and greetings, the group slowly settles down. Rory takes a seat with Honor on one side of her, with Elle on the other. As Rory and Honor talk, Finn distracts Elle showing her nonsense on his phone, with added commentary by Colin.

"So does anyone know anything more? Have there been any updates on how he's going?" Rory asks eventually after mustering up the courage to ask the question that she's afraid of, knowing the answer that she's given may not be the answer they want to hear.

"No... I haven't heard anything since I called you. No one has. As far as anyone knows, he's still in surgery. I'm trying not to think about how that can't be a good thing."

Rory instantly looks over to her daughter, checking how she is and checking whether she had decrypted the hidden message and picked up on the fear in her aunt's comment.

"Elle, how are you doing, sweetie? Is it upsetting you being here? I can get someone to pick you up if you want."

"I don't want to go home" Elle says simply, to which Rory just nods.

However, in the exchange between the mother and daughter, Finn picks up on Rory's fears for her young daughter, knowing hospitals aren't usually places for children to hang out. So, he decides to try and step in.

"Hey, Little L. How about Uncle Colin and I take you out for ice-creams? His treat. I saw a place just around the corner... It gets pretty boring waiting here, hey? But if anything happens, your mom and Aunt Honor can call us to come back... How does that sound?"

The faces of both the little girl and her mother light up at the suggestion. Elle is sold at the distraction of ice-cream, while Rory is sold at the perfect in-between of her daughter being close, but not stuck in the middle of the hospital that really is no place for a child.

Elleigh looks over to Rory for approval. After a nod from her mother, she gives her a quick hug before she is up and out of the seat, following behind the two boys as they head out the door.

#

After leaving the hospital, the trio try to trace the direction of Finn. Finn's sense of direction is probably the only thing worse than Google maps for navigating.

"I'm _sure_ I saw it was this way. That sign looks familiar."

Colin rolls his eyes, trailing behind Finn and Elle on the footpath. "We didn't even come _this_ way."

"I _know_ that sign" Finn insists and continues walking for another thirty metres before stopping and standing, a perplexed look on his face. "Actually, maybe not... Never mind, abandon ship."

Elleigh chuckles at the two boys antics. It has helped her go one whole minute without thinking back to the hospital and thinking about how her dad is, _just_ for a minute. Then, it's back again. Sigh.

"What's up little L? I thought you'd be too young to know how to sigh!" Finn asks, having noticed the younger girl's long sigh just seconds ago. He slings an arm around her again, comfortingly, like she can confide in him.

"I'm just feeling a bit worried about my dad..." she responds softly.

At the nine-year-old's admission, both boys stop in their tracks. They have a more important focus than ice-cream right now.

"Don't worry too much, Elle. Look, your dad is a champion at getting everyone to worry about him... About a year and a half before you were born, he got himself in hospital then, too."

Elle looks between her two uncles with wide, open eyes, filled with curiosity and interest. "What happened then? Why was he in hospital?"

"Ever heard of BASE-jumping?" Colin confirms first.

Elle just nods. She had seen a brief snippet of a documentary that had featured it, but it didn't really paint a positive view on the extreme sport.

"Well, we were in South America doing all sorts of stupid stunts, including BASE-jumping off cliffs. Anyway, we're not quite sure what happened, it certainly _wasn't_ my fault, but your dad's jump failed and he barely pulled his chute open before landing. He was in hospital for all sorts of injuries that he got from that."

Colin explains the situation factually which doesn't do much to console the child before Finn jumps in and takes over, trying to change the focus of the explanation to help Elle feel better.

"It gave us all a big scare. The last time though, we couldn't find out how he was and none of the doctors would say anything because he had no family there. So, we had this intricate plan to adopt your dad, so that he'd be our son and we'd be his family, so that the hospital would tell us something."

Elle giggles at his comment and Finn's tactic to amuse her rather than scare her further works successfully, until Colin jumps in and intervenes again.

"Maybe we _want_ him to stay unconscious this time... He was the most impatient patient."

Finn rolls his eyes at his friend's remark, before turning to the girl in their presence.

"Look, little L, the point is that he got through that in the past... He can do it all over again. He'll be okay this time, too."

For the first time since learning that her father has been hospitalised, Elle feels a bit better and just a little less scared. _Despite_ , the fact that the comfort coming from the most surprising of sources.

"Now, let us find that ice-cream!"

#

After Colin and Finn took Elleigh out for ice-cream, it left just Rory and Honor in the waiting room together.

The two had been quite close while Rory was seeing Honor's brother a decade ago. Then with being brought back into each other's lives once again, Rory and Honor's friendship had picked up where they left off.

As a distraction from waiting nervously for news on Logan, Rory and Honor have both found talking and catching up to be a good distraction from their fears. So, they are chatting away busily when Honor's phone starts buzzing and vibrating with a new message.

"It's Mitchum" Honor announces.

It's always struck Rory how both Honor and Logan have always had a tendency to address their father by his name, rather than his title as their dad. It's almost as though he's a colleague or a boss, rather than a father. "He said he's on his way."

Rory reflects on the kick-up-the-backside-phone-call that she had given Mitchum the last time that Logan was in hospital, realising that apparently, Colin and Finn aren't the only ones to have progressed and grown over the last eleven years.

Her thought distracts Rory for just a moment before she is forced to recall another thought that has been in the pattern of surfacing, being suppressed and resurfacing. Once again, her awful thought rises in the forefront of her mind, except this time she raises the question to her exes sister.

"Hey Honor, can I ask you something?"

"Of course... You can ask me anything, Rory."

Rory takes a deep breath, her guilt spilling over as she finally has the opportunity to release her fears that have been taking hold of her ever since Honor gave Rory the phone call, telling her that Logan had been a single-vehicle car accident.

"Look, I know I've been in Logan's life again recently over the last few months, but there were a lot of years that passed between when we were first together and now. I'm sorry if it's an intrusive question, but I have to ask something... To your knowledge, has Logan ever been depressed, or, um, or has he had any tendencies towards self-harm?"

Honor looks instantly setback by Rory's question to her, like it's the very last thing that she had expected her to ask about her brother.

"No... Not to my knowledge. I've never noticed any of the signs in him. Not that that always means anything, though... _Why_? Do you know something?"

Rory quickly shakes her head in response to Honor's question, explaining her question that had seemingly come from out-of-the-blue for her exes-sister.

"No... I just had my worries. Look, you see the thing is, we've had a couple of conversations lately and we've considered giving our relationship another shot. But, we've both been on different pages. I wanted it, but he didn't and then he wanted it but I didn't. We had a big fight about it yesterday and he was pretty upset and pretty angry when he left my place..."

As she explains her fears for the worse to Honor, Rory is on the verge of crying, her eyes filling with tears as quickly as she has been filled guilt. In the moment, she is so thankful for the boys having taken Elleigh out.

"Then, the day after our fight, Logan is in hospital after a _single_ -car accident..."

Honor wraps an arm around Rory, the two girls both worried for the Huntzberger heir who's still in surgery. After wrapping an arm around Rory comfortingly, Honor clarifies the point that Rory had been trying to make.

"So, what you're saying is that you're worried it _wasn't_ an accident... That you think Logan's accident was _deliberate_?"

* * *

 **Sorry, what a mean place to end it.**

 **Thanks to everyone who commented on the last chapter. As always, I appreciate the support from each and every one of you so greatly. Thank you!**

 **Next chapter : The waiting game continues. Rory and Honor discuss her concerns. Mitchum arrives.**


	30. The Waiting Game

**CHAPTER 30: The Waiting Game**

" _So, what you're saying is that you're worried it_ _ **wasn't**_ _an accident... That you think Logan's accident was_ _ **deliberate?**_ _"_

#

"Deliberate? You think he meant for the accident to happen?" Honor clarifies once again, looking to Rory to confirm her suspicions with her mouth gaping open in shock.

After having a moment to process what Rory has just told her, she immediately jumps into defense of her younger brother. Without waiting for an answer from Rory, Honor continues to speak.

"No, _no_... He wouldn't. Logan's never been suicidal. He wouldn't... Sure he has made some stupid decisions in the past, but he's never done any of that with self-harm in mind. _Especially_ not now that Elleigh's in his life. He can't stop talking about her. "

Rory nods at the other woman's answer.

"I hope you're right, Honor. Just the thought of that... It was killing me... But, I just couldn't sideline the idea, given the timing of it all and considering I haven't known him for the last ten years."

"It was just an accident. A freak accident, but, still, _just_ an accident..." Honor reiterates earnestly. There is not a smidgen of doubt in her voice.

This reassures Rory a little, but she still feels like she cannot be completely saved from her guilt until she speaks to the man himself and until she can hear Logan's side of the account...

During the moment of silence, the two women are interrupted by the ding of the nearby elevator. It has been moving and dinging the entire time that they have been waiting in the hospital, yet, both girls looks up almost instinctively as though they are expecting the arrival and the presence of the blonde, business suit-clad man with a receding hairline.

Immediately upon catching sight of the two women, Mitchum slips his mobile phone into his pocket and joins the duo.

"Honor, Rory... Good to see you both" he greets, briefly wrapping his daughter in a hug before shaking hands with the other woman. "Have you heard anymore about how he's doing? I've got my secretary on it, but no one knows anything. Or, at least, that's what everyone's saying."

After the greetings, the group of three fade to a silence. They each take a seat and they each fidget uncomfortably until Honor's phone begins to vibrate; a distraction that all three of them welcome.

"I'm _really_ sorry. I've got to take this. It's Josh... I told him to only call me if it's important. Sorry."

Honor gives Rory an extra apologetic look, far sorrier for leaving her with Mitchum than she is for the other way around.

"So..." Mitchum eventually says, trying to warm up and talk to Rory in the hopes of breaking the awkward silence between the two of them. "Where's my beautiful granddaughter today? I would have thought that she would want to be with her dad."

"She was here, but I was a little worried that a hospital waiting room isn't exactly the best place for a nine-year-old. So, Colin and Finn have just taken her out to get ice-cream until we hear something."

Mitchum nods in understanding before glancing at Rory a couple of times, as if trying to decide whether or not to reply and continue speaking or whether he should just leave them to their silence. He decides the latter.

Having appreciated Mitchum's interest in her daughter, his granddaughter, Rory tries to repay the favour and effort that he put in with her own attempts to break the silence and thaw the ice in the uncomfortable quiet.

"It's really good that you're here this time... Not to mention that you came of your _own_ accord."

As she glances over to the man that is her daughter's grandfather, the two of them share a little smile, both knowing that she is referring to the last time she phoned him at the hospital to tell him that he should have been there, too, but not in the most polite manner.

However, what Mitchum _doesn't_ say is how much he respected her for pulling him into line that day.

After Rory's remark, the two of them fall to another silence. After all, apart from their brief work-based relationship, Mitchum and Rory never really knew each other that well and a lot of time has passed since the few weeks that she spent interning for him. Consequently, it doesn't really leave them with many topics for discussion and much gossip to catch up on.

However, after a few minutes of silence and a few minutes of pretending to look distracted so that the silence does not become too uncomfortable, Mitchum raises one question that he has been meaning to raise and wanting to ask Rory.

"Rory, about Elleigh, I've been meaning to ask you whether you would mind if I, well, tell people about her? I would like to... Now I hope I'm not being intrusive, but I know that you kept her from Logan for many years, however I don't really know if you were keeping her from him or from the Huntzberger name."

"Well, the reason why she was kept from Logan is a _whole_ other conversation in itself... But, no, I have no issue with her being affiliated with both Logan and the Huntzberger name. It's part of who she is, after all."

Mitchum nods in understanding, a smile spreading over his face.

"Good... I'm glad. I've wanted to tell people about her, boast about her even, but I thought I should check on that with you first."

"That's fine" Rory says, giving the older man a completely genuine, completely unforced, smile back in response. "Tell the _world_ , if you really want." Rory chuckles at her own exaggeration and as she looks over to the man beside her, she notices the smile on his own face.

Minutes later, the two are interrupted by another ding on the elevator revealing Elleigh and her two companions. As they leave the elevator, all three of them take more notice of one person in particular despite the fact that there are two people sitting there in that waiting room.

"Mr. Huntzberger" Colin greets politely, holding out his own hand to shake his friends fathers'.

"Dark Lord. You're looking well" Finn says bluntly, not adjusting his nickname for the man despite his presence.

"Grandad!" Elle exclaims, by far the most excited of the three as she doesn't hesitate in giving her grandfather a hug that he is just as enthusiastic to exchange.

As soon as they separate, the youngest in the group of five in the waiting room looks to her mother and grandfather.

"Uncle Finn and Uncle Colin took me to get ice-creams. They got me THREE flavours _and_ caramel sauce on top!"

Mitchum chuckles at her excitement and enthusiasm. Elle is just the distraction that they all need as they wait for information on the same man, who despite all their differences, their concern for Logan is the one common denominator between them that they can all agree on.

"What flavours did you choose?" Mitchum asks in his attempt to pay an interest in his granddaughter.

"I had cookies and cream, choc chip and vanilla" Elleigh recounts with an excited grin. A typical Gilmore, the mention of food is exactly what she needs to take her mind off her worries about her father for a moment.

However, before the doting grandfather has a chance to respond to her, Mitchum is interrupted along with Rory who is checking up with the other two boys, ensuring that her daughter had been okay for them on their little outing. The group are interrupted by a doctor strolling over to them; each one of them trying to read his blank expression as they wait for him to speak, impatiently waiting to hear any news. Honor, too, reenters the waiting room, throwing her phone in her bag as she races over to the group who are surrounding her brother's doctor.

"Are you all here for Logan Huntzberger?"

There is a cluster of nods from the group and the doctor nods in understanding. "And you're all family?"

Mitchum speaks up, introducing himself as Mitchum Huntzberger, his father, along with pointing out Logan's sister, daughter, the mother of his child and then falling to a silence upon reaching his two friends.

Finn jumps in and points to Colin firstly, then himself, picking up from where Mitchum left off. "That's Colin and I'm Finnegan. We're Sir Huntzberger's brothers... _Blood_ brothers..."

Finn's excuse elicits an eye roll from the eldest Huntzberger in the waiting room. However, the doctor just skips over the fact, not debating the technicalities of family-versus-friends any longer.

"Mr. Huntzberger has just come out of surgery. He is very lucky... Now, we have no answers as to how the accident happened, only the extent of it. Our greatest concern was Logan's head injury from the collision. At this stage, there has been no internal bleeding or excessive swelling, but we will be monitoring that closely until he's out of the woods. There has been no haemorrhaging, but we will be monitoring for a subdural hematoma."

The seriousness of the situation along with the medical jargon flies well over Elleigh's head. So, instead, she just looks up and watches the expressions of the adults in her life... She notes the solemness of her grandfather, the watering eyes of her aunt, the fear in her mother and the sudden seriousness of the two jovial boys that had just taken her out for ice-cream...

While she might not understand what the doctor's saying, she can see what impact it is having on the shifting attitude of the adults that are standing around her... _That's_ what worries her.

"In addition to his head injury, he has two broken ribs from the airbag and a fractured wrist, but they will heal. Like I said, he's been very lucky so far, but he's not out of the woods yet. He's still unconscious and in an induced coma for the head injury, but we hope that he should wake up on his own within the next few days."

Elleigh looks up and around at the adults surrounding her, she feels her mother's touch as she comfortingly rests her hand on her shoulder supportively.

"So, is my dad going to be okay?" Elleigh asks, looking up to the adults, seeking the doctor or just _anyone_ else who will answer her question.

"We hope so. I can't promise anything, but he's doing well so far."

Elleigh nods at the doctor's words, with Rory's hand that's on her shoulder stroking back and forth comfortingly.

"He's still unconscious, but you can go in and see him now. Only two at a time in his room, thank you."

"I'll go first, I have to leave shortly –I'll be back tomorrow- but I'd like to see him before I leave" Mitchum comments, with no objection from the others in the group.

As the Huntzberger patriarch disappears into his son's hospital room, Rory catches a glimpse of Logan, lying on the bed, bruised and battered with machines and cords and gauzes in every direction. Her breath hitches in her throat, giving her awful flashbacks to seeing him in the hospital after his failed BASE jump in South America.

She quickly tries to distract herself by looking down to their daughter, pressing a kiss to her golden locks. "Are you okay sweetheart? Is this all upsetting for you? Do you want me to call someone to pick you up?"

Elleigh looks to her mother with sad eyes, but a definitive head-shake. "No. I want to stay here. I want to be with my dad."

The child with them proves to be a fantastic distraction for all the adults as they all continue waiting in the waiting room. Rory and Colin take seats either side of the young blonde girl as Finn crouches down in front of her.

"You okay, darling? Where's that Huntzberger smile of yours gone? 'Cause, I know for a _fact_ that that smile is the very first thing that your dad is going to want to see when he wakes up. In fact, I promise you that, my darling."

At Finn's charming reasoning, a little smile begins to crack on the small girl's face.

"That's better! Now keep it that way. Your dad is going to be just fine. He's going to have so much fun teasing us all for being worried! He'll be fine..."

As much as the adults are saying the words to comfort the younger girl among hem, they are saying those words just as much for their own sake, telling themselves that it'll be okay and that the man that they are all here for will be okay. _They hope_.

* * *

 **I'm so sorry for the unanticipated hiatus! My work and personal life have been just ridiculously crazy of late. I hope you liked this one nonetheless.**

 **Big, big thank yous go out to nightnovice, Felizia00X, lucylulu, loonymarauder, vickstick, LC42, Rori Potter, suessekathi, soulkissage, oc-journey06, Legolas' Girl 31, Droolia, jldp3, lilkathra and jordana60 for reviewing the last chapter. I really appreciate the last chapter. Thank you so much for supporting me. I hope you're still out there despite my being AWOL! Sorry again.**

 **Next chapter : There's a big change in Logan's condition. Is it for better or worse? By the end of the chapter, life is looking pretty different for Rory.**


	31. Worth The Wait

**CHAPTER 31: Worth The Wait**

Three _long_ days after Logan's was admitted to hospital after his accident is when he finally wakes up.

Although Mitchum stuck to his word and visited the hospital each day, when Logan finally wakes up, it is just Rory, Elle and Logan's three best friends that are at the hospital.

Finn and Colin who had been in his room at the time, were pushed out and into the waiting room as an onslaught of doctors and nurses hurried into his room, to check Logan...

After one almighty scare, he is _fine_. And, apart from a dreadful headache and some painkillers that need topping up, Logan is going to be _fine_.

When the nurses return to the waiting room, announcing that they may see Logan, the other boys outside of Logan's room offer for Rory and Elleigh to go in and see him first.

Then, as the two girls walk into the hospital room that they have been in and out of countless times over the last few days, this time is different. This time, the man that they are visiting is awake for their visit. He's groggy, but still, he's _awake_.

At the sight of Rory and Elle entering his room, Logan's face lights up and a smile spreads across his face despite the evident grogginess in his eyes and the fact that he winces in pain as he tries to sit up a little and get a better view of them.

"Dad!" Elle exclaims, racing over to Logan's bedside first, as Rory cowardly trails behind her. "I'm so glad that you're okay! You scared me..."

In that moment, the smile on his daughter's face is better than any painkiller.

"Of course I'm okay, sweetheart... You've only just found me. You can't get rid of me that easily. But, I am sorry for giving you a scare."

He lifts his non-fractured hand up to Elle, stroking the side of her face and he tucks a loose golden lock of hair behind her ear, eliciting a smile from his daughter.

"So what have I missed, Nance?"

"Um, I don't know... We've mostly just been waiting at the hospital. Um, you've just missed lots of talking, really. Uncle Colin and Uncle Finn took me out for ice-creams a couple of days ago. It was really good. We have to take you when you get out too!"

"Ice-cream sounds good, Elle..."

Rory can hear the drowsiness in Logan's voice and she can see the way his eyes are fighting to stay open.

"Would you like us to leave you to get some rest now? We'll come back tomorrow."

"Nah, I've spent a good few days asleep and I imagine that I'll have a lot more time to rest up. Stay for a bit longer girls."

Rory gives Logan a wary look while their daughter just nods happily at her father's request. However, the conversation is interrupted once again by three heads that poke through the door and into Logan's room.

"Hey, Little L we're going down to raid the gift shop. Wanna come and see how many flowers and pretty pink balloons we can find for your dad?"

She turns to her parents for an 'okay' or some other look of approval. Then, after a quick nod from Rory, her daughter's face lights up and she races over to Finn, Colin and Robert who leave immediately after a quick goodbye.

As Elle races off and rushes to join her uncles on their shopping spree it means leaving her parent's behind in Logan's hospital room.

After her daughter leaves, Rory stays in place, cowering in corner on the other side of the room from Logan's hospital bed. Although she keeps her glance directly down to the floor, she eventually speaks up.

"I was really worried about you... We all were. I'm so glad you're okay."

"Yeah, well, I had a look ahead and saw that there was nothing much on TV this week, so thought I'd do you all a favour" Logan grins. Even despite his groggy state, he can't hide his smirk.

Rory can't resist exhaling a short-lived chuckle before she quickly becomes serious again, continuing to speak and ignoring Logan's last comment.

" _Especially_ after the way that we left things, Logan, I felt so guilty. If you _weren't_ okay... actually I don't even want to think about that."

Even in his groggy state and even from the other side of the room, Logan can sense Rory's guilt. So, from his bedside, Logan holds an open hand out to Rory as he continues to watch her intently.

She looks over to him and eyes him off cautiously, checking that he is sure of his invitation to hold his hand. His smile just confirms what she needs to know and she takes a few more certain and more confident steps toward his bedside, slowly moving her hand into his.

"Logan? Your accident... What happened?"

"I made the stupidest decision and now I'm paying for it" Logan says, referring to his current state on the hospital bed, delivered with a big sigh before continuing to explain what had led to his car accident and collision with a tree.

"I fell asleep at the wheel. I closed my eyes for what felt like a split second and _bang_... Next thing I remember is the paramedics getting me out. I _shouldn't_ have been driving... I've barely slept the last few weeks with having to get to New York by the beginning of the business day, having to drive up to four hours a day and then the late-night conference calls..."

There's another sigh, but he continues explaining.

"I _knew_ how tired I was. I was an idiot that thought he was Superman. I'm just glad that I only injured myself."

Logan can't bring himself to look her in the eyes, hanging his head down in shame. However, in that moment Rory is too relieved that she had been wrong about her suspicions to be cross with him for pushing himself when he knew he shouldn't have.

"You should have called for a driver or gotten a room in the city if you were so tired... I could have just as easily picked Elle up for you... But, make sure you've learnt your lesson. Just make sure it doesn't _ever_ happen again, okay?"

With her brief lecture out of the way, Rory exhales a heavy sigh.

"Honestly Logan, I was worried about the fact it was a _single_ -car accident and that it happened the day after our big fight... I was worried that your accident wasn't exactly accidental."

"You think I caused the accident? That I aimed for the tree?"

Rory looks down to the ground, but she can still hear the disbelief in Logan's voice, once again proving how wrong she was. She feels guilty for thinking that of him with no other basis than her wild imagination.

"Oh, Ace. I didn't, don't worry. I'm sorry you had to worry about that..."

The two of them fall to a silence as Logan waits for a reply from Rory that doesn't come. The silence is eventually broken when she changes the course of the discussion not completely, but just a little.

"Your accident did make me realise a few things and a face a few truths, though..."

"Oh yeah?" Logan replies, encouraging her to continue speaking.

Before Rory has a chance to elaborate on her last comment, Logan releases a small, uncomfortable yawn. Wincing in pain due to his broken ribs, Logan promises himself he'll never take such a minor thing as yawning without feeling any pain for granted again.

"Look Logan, we can talk about it tomorrow. You're tired and I can see that you're in pain... Remember, we've already determined that you're _not_ Superman."

"I'm fine... Don't leave me hanging, Ace. I want to hear what you have to say."

She eyes him off, hesitantly. She's not convinced that he's 'fine', but she also knows not to try the Huntzberger stubbornness, the same stubbornness that her daughter has inherited. She won't win; _rather_ , it'll only delay the inevitable.

So, she takes a deep breath and Logan can feel his hand being clutched slightly tighter from within hers.

"I realised that life's too short. When I got the phone call and when I heard that you were hurt, I knew I'd made the wrong decision... I've made a lot of those the last few years."

"Ace...? What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that life's too short. Yes, the risk of failing is still there, but there are risks in everything; using a toaster, crossing the street. But, that shouldn't keep us from living life and getting out of bed in the morning. I shouldn't ignore the way I feel about you _because_ of the risks... _So_ , if you still want to give us a second chance, I do too..."

Considering that the day before his accident, Logan had talked to Rory about his change of mind and the fact that he wanted them to try again, Rory expects some sort of positive reaction now that they _finally_ seem to be on the same page.

 _Right..._?

This is why Rory can't understand how come Logan's expression turns more serious following her last comment.

"Have _you_ changed your mind now?" Rory asks in little more than a whisper. She can feel her confidence rushing away as uncertainty floods in and takes its place.

Rory lets go of his hand and takes a step back in the immediate silence that follows her question. She doesn't wait for him to speak and instead she goes into damage control.

"That's okay. You don't have to say anything. I shouldn't have counted on you not changing your mind. That's alright. Forget that I said anything. I'll just-"

After a few attempts of saying her name that go either ignored or unnoticed by Rory, Logan has to resort to virtually shouting her name to catch her attention and shake her from her mouth that has switched to autopilot.

"Ace. Ace... _Rory_!"

By the time that she hears her name, Rory is paused and stopped on the spot, looking back over to the man whose hospital bed she has just backed away from. She looks over to him and waits for him to speak, ready to continue backing away, ready to leave his room at the first sign.

"Rory, I want that too... I still _really_ want that too. But I have got one condition to us getting back together..."

The young brunette looks at the father of her child on the hospital bed expectantly, waiting for his condition to come.

"You're scared of us failing? So am I. I'm scared of getting hurt again. First the proposal, then with Elleigh... Honestly, I am _terrified_ of getting hurt by you again."

Rory exhales a guilty sigh at his comment, looking down to the ground for the umpteenth time today.

"So, my one condition, if I'm going to be with you, is that I want it to be for the long run. I don't want to go backwards again... To some people it's just a piece of paper, but I value marriage and it's something important to me. So, look, I'm not expecting to be engaged next week or even next year, but I have to know that that is something that you're open to. Because, when it comes to being with you, I'm all in... My _heart_ is all in. I can't try and pretend to be anything less."

Acknowledging the conditions that Logan has just laid out, Rory nods slowly. At some point in time over the last few minutes, she has not only subconsciously returned to her spot by his bedside but their hands have also returned to one another's.

"I'm open to the idea of marrying you... _One day_. Honestly, I was open to that idea all those years ago too, but it felt too soon at a time when I _thought_ the world was my oyster; when I _thought_ I had so many open doors and opportunities."

A small expression that somewhat resembles a tired smile ripples across Logan's lips briefly.

"That's all I need to know, that you are open to the idea and that you know that's my intentions for the future."

"Well, I'm okay with that" she says with a smile which is quickly followed by a grin on Logan's face too, even in spite of his pain and drowsiness.

Then, after a few seconds of sappy smiling in the silence, Rory leans down to Logan, first stroking his hair, then being careful for his bruises and stroking down the side of his face lightly and delicately where his chin rests on her palms and she slowly begins to lean down for their lips to meet again after all these years.

"Hold on."

Rory gives him a puzzled look as to why he's stopping her once again, like he had on their movie night after she went to kiss him. After all, since then they have mutually decided to reconcile and get back together, so, Rory can't see what's with the halting this time.

"This feels familiar. Have you changed your mind about us _already_?"

Logan chuckles at her comment and her insinuation that couldn't be further from the truth.

"Far from it, Ace... However, I don't want to kiss you tonight, I'm sorry."

Rory's face scrunches up a little and she's visibly taken aback by his remark. However, before she can jump to anymore conclusions, Logan quickly expands on his first comment, explaining why.

"I want to be able to remember it, Ace; our _second_ first-kiss. I'm worried that they've got me on so many drugs and painkillers that I won't be able to. Besides, it's been ten years in the making, so what's one more day?"

Despite the fact that she had been setback and perplexed initially, Rory just smiles at the reason why Logan, –ever the romantic- has just stopped their kiss for the second time. So, instead of her initial aim for his lips, Rory moves higher up and presses a kiss to his thick, blonde hair.

After a moment, she goes to pull away, only to find that Logan's hand has been just placed on her shoulders to keep her in place, stopping her from pulling away so easily and fulfilling his purpose to keep them close. There, with just centimetres that are between them and keeping them apart, both Rory and Logan study each other closely and look directly into one another's eyes dreamily.

"Elleigh and the boys could be back any second. I don't think this is _quite_ the way to break the news to them."

Ignoring her comment, Logan doesn't flinch and instead changes the course of their conversation completely.

"You don't know how glad I am to be able to call you my girl again, Ace... I've only waited ten years."

* * *

 **I hope you liked that chapter and the turn of events! I know a lot of you were waiting a long time for that... But, where to from here? Will they be able to sustain their rekindled relationship and make it work this time? Will they tell Elle or hold off? What will their families say?**

 **Also, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I am so thankful for each and every one of you that has remained on this journey with me and this little, dysfunctional family. I hope you continue to enjoy where life (and me!) leads them!**

 **Next chapter: Logan's relationships with both Rory and Elle continue to blossom. Also, Mitchum makes a big gesture... Is it for good or bad?**


	32. Grand Gestures

**CHAPTER 32: Grand Gestures**

Later that day Elleigh had returned from her gift shop haul with Finn, Colin and Robert. Logan's friends quickly came by to see him when they brought Elle back to his hospital room. However, they didn't hang around for long before departing again; leaving the small, dysfunctional family to be alone.

Funded by Colin and his willingness to purchase just about _anything_ for whatever reason, Elle hauled back a 'baby boy' helium balloon (they were out of 'get well soon' balloons and Elleigh was _insistent_ on getting him one), an enormously overpriced teddy bear and a box of Lindt chocolates (that she's _hoping_ he will share around).

Currently, Elleigh is sitting beside Logan on his hospital bed, telling him all about the book that she's reading at the moment. Sitting on the seat in the corner of the room, Rory watches the father and daughter conversing together before getting a rude shock when she checks the time on her phone.

"It's getting late. We should get you home soon, little miss. You have school tomorrow and both you and your dad both need some rest" Rory says getting up from the chair in the corner of the room, walking over to the father and daughter, running her hand through Elle's long, blonde hair lovingly.

The comment from her mother is immediately met with an unimpressed look of disapproval from Elle.

"I don't want to go... Please let me have a late night tonight and stay with dad for a bit longer."

"Remember, I'm the one who has the pleasure of getting you up in the morning."

Logan sits back and watches the banter between the girls as a spectator. A part of him still can't believe that his college girlfriend is a mother to a nine-year-old... That she's a mother to _his_ nine-year-old.

Watching the duo, Logan can easily see the same dynamic and the same strong bond between his daughter and her mother as between Rory and her own mother.

"You should listen to your mom, Nance. You can come back and see me after school tomorrow and tell me all about your day."

Hearing the same thing that her mother had just said being reaffirmed by her father, Elle is still no happier with the idea of having to leave and the little frown on her face doesn't shift. Instead, she just lets out a little huff, looking to her mother to set some terms and conditions to try and get her way for tomorrow at least, seeing as she's fighting a losing battle over tonight.

"Then we can come back _straight_ after I finish school tomorrow? And I can stay until after dinner again?"

"Yes, if that's okay with your dad and as long as he doesn't get too tired" Rory says with a nod. Glancing over to Logan she knows full-well that there's _no doubt_ that he'd be fine with the requests of the little girl who is completely wrapped around his little finger.

Despite a very brief grin of triumph, Elle lets out another sigh after feeling the nudge on her shoulder from her mother, gently reminding and encouraging her that they need to leave.

"Bye sweetheart. Sleep well" Logan says, before releasing a yawn on cue as he watches his daughter squirm off from where she'd been sitting at the bedside of his hospital bed, joining her mother where she stands beside it.

"Dad... Will it hurt you if I try to give you a hug?"

From where she'd been cowering in the corner, Rory suddenly jolts into action; trying to stop her daughter from giving Logan a hug, knowing all too well that a hug with two broken ribs would be far from pleasant.

Logan notices Rory's reaction and before she has a chance to say a word, he speaks up, quashing her attempt to stop their daughter.

"Let her, Ace" he says to Rory, before turning to the other girl in his hospital room who he directs his following admonition to.

" _Try me_. Let's give it a shot. It'll be worth it."

Elleigh gives Logan a wary look, uncomfortable with any chance that she might hurt her father, but only receiving an encouraging smile to put her at ease and reassure her.

From where's she standing beside Logan and his bedside, the nine-year-old reaches over as she very delicately and very gently gives her father a hug goodnight. Despite how soft she tries to be, Rory notes how Logan's eyes squint shut in pain from his small hug with their daughter before the two pull apart from each other.

"Sweet dreams, girls" Logan says to his newly-rekindled girlfriend and their daughter as they begin to leave his room for the night.

After saying her goodbyes, Rory is almost out of the room, before Elle stops and rushes back in and over to her father once more. She races over and gives Logan a quick kiss on his cheek, followed by the words that make his day.

"Goodnight dad... _I love you_."

Hearing those three words coming from his daughter for the very first time instantly swells his heart with love.

His heart could beat out of his chest.

Logan never knew that hearing those three little words could make him so happy; filling him pride and affection... He didn't think it was _possible_ for him to love that little girl even more than he already does.

"I love you too, sweetheart."

#

After dropping Elleigh off at school, followed by a quick detour past _Luke's_ , Rory is back at the hospital with Logan early the following morning.

Quickly knocking on the open door to announce her preserve, Rory quickly notes that the nurse is in with Logan at the moment.

"Hey Ace" Logan grins, his face lighting up at the sight of his visitor.

With a smile in his direction and a general good morning, Rory directs her first comment at Logan's nurse.

"I hope he's behaving himself. I know full well that he's not the most angelic patient in the world."

"Me? Behaving myself? Always, Ace, always..."

Logan gives a wild grin to both women in the room; firstly looking at the girl who knows him far better than to believe his words and then, to the nurse who knows that he had been just grumbling about hospitals to her just minutes earlier.

"You're looking brighter this morning."

Logan gives Rory a quick smile at her comment, before turning to his nurse with a smirk. " _See_ , I'm ready to go home now."

The nurse simply just rolls her eyes with a chuckle. "Nice try, but all of your test results still haven't come in yet. You'll be stuck here for a few more days, I'm sorry."

Despite her words, the tone of the nurse's voice shows that she is anything _but_ sorry. She quickly leaves the room after her comment, fleeing from the whining entrepreneur and leaving the new couple alone.

"Hi..." Logan says with a grin, fully focused on his visitor now that his nurse has left. "How'd it go with getting our girl to school? You didn't have to take her kicking and screaming, did you?"

"She didn't want to get out of bed but aside from a few unimpressed looks and eye rolls for making her go to school rather than take her with me, she wasn't too bad. I've seen worse from her."

Logan wordlessly nods in acknowledgment to Rory's answer to his question, before gesturing to the small amount of space beside him on the hospital bed, indicating for her to join him there.

"You sure?" Rory confirms, before joining Logan on his bedside, cosying up together while they have some alone time. "This is starting to feel like sneaking around in our early days at Yale..."

"So, when do you think we should start telling people –namely _our_ _daughter_ \- about this?" Logan asks Rory, gesturing to the closeness of their bodies as they cuddle up on his hospital bed together to clarify the 'this' in question.

Rory stays silent for a few moments, thinking over Logan's question as well as the different outcomes that each answer may have.

"I hate the idea of keeping things from her, but I feel like we need to give it a little bit of time just to make sure _we_ think that we'll be able to make it work this time. She's going to become so invested in the idea us being together and it's not fair on her if we get her hopes up only to make them crash down in a matter of months if we can't make it this time."

Logan nods definitively. He can definitely see the point that she's making and he can relate to wanting to do anything to keep his daughter from being hurt.

"I agree. So, how long do you think we are talking wits keeping it to ourselves?"

"A month or so? Maybe six weeks? I think it'll just depend on how sure we are and how long it takes to be confident that we're going to last."

Although he's in agreement with Rory over keeping their relationship under wraps until they are surer of their future, he can't help feel a little twinge of discomfort. The prospect of keeping their relationship from everyone and especially _their daughter_ seems impossibly hard to Logan... Yet, it's just a sore reminder to him of just how good Rory is it at keeping things.

Rory takes Logan's silence as the end of that conversation, so she moves onto the next, raising another question for them to discuss.

"So apart from not being able to go home today, do you know roughly how long you're going to have to stay in here?"

"No clue. I've been given a few different timeframes. I'm hoping I'll be out by the end of the week."

Rory nods in response to his answer, before bringing up another question on her mind relating to his being discharged.

"So, what are you going to do when you get home? Half of your house and half of your stuff is on one storey and the rest of it is on the other storey."

"Grow wings? Learn to fly?" Logan smirks, responding cheekily to Rory's serious question regarding his predicament of getting up and down his stairs with broken ribs from the accident.

" _Logan_..." Rory whines. "You better watch yourself or you're going to end up with another broken rib at this rate. The nurses and I will fight each other for the honour."

He only grins at her frustration, her reaction fuelling his satisfaction.

"Wipe that grin off your face Huntzberger..." Rory pouts.

"I'm sorry... Just mucking around, blame my meds" he releases a small, uncomfortable chuckle before he tries to readjust himself, growing more serious in the process. "Okay, _seriously_ though, I haven't thought about it too much. I thought about hiring someone to prepare the spare room downstairs and then hiring a nurse or maid or something to fetch things I need. Either that or install an elevator."

Rory nods, looking distantly across the room, rather than at Logan during their conversation as she considers an idea that has been floating around in her mind for the last day.

"Why, Ace? What's going on in that head of yours?"

"What if _I_ look after you? Like you said, you're going to need someone to get things, move things, fluff your pillows, listen to your grumbles, etcetera, etcetera... What if that person's _me_? We'll have about six hours a day alone, while Elle's at school. It'd give us a great opportunity to hang out, talk and really try and give us a good shot without the pressure and without anyone knowing."

Logan nods at Rory's proposition, thinking the offer and the logistics of it over for a few moments, although the slight smile on the corner of his lips calls his poker face on what he's really thinking about the idea.

"But what about your work? What about the paper?"

"You live in Stars Hollow... The commute from your place into the paper isn't quite the same for _me_ as it is for _you_ going into New York. I can bring my laptop over, work while you're resting and I can pop past the office if I need to get anything or do anything. It won't put me out too much to work from your place."

Logan looks at her intently, waiting to see more confirmation from her before he commits to the idea, or believes that she has committed to the idea.

He finds the confirmation that he needs to accept her offer as she takes his non-fractured hand as they sit beside each other on his hospital bed. She grasps his hand and gives it a gentle squeeze of reassurance.

"I want to do this. It makes sense. And, I think this will be good for us."

Finally, Logan nods in response to her offer, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

"Thanks, Ace" Logan says seriously and gratefully, before a ripple of a smirk spreads across his lips, leaving Rory dreading what comes next. "Besides, it would have been a task for me to try and find a hotter nurse than you..."

Rory rolls her eyes at Logan's comment but before she has a chance to threaten him with another broken rib, they are both interrupted by Logan's phone going off, receiving a text message.

She grabs his phone from where it's sitting on the small bedside cabinet and immediately passes it on to Logan, saving him the discomfort of trying to move unnecessarily with his broken ribs, fractured wrist and abundance of bruising.

"Who is it?" Rory asks curiously as she watches the look on Logan's face from the sidelines.

From the moment Logan looked at his phone and at the message, she saw the puzzlement hit his expression. Immediately, his forehead scrunches and his brows furrow. She wants to know who or what can elicit such a reaction in her boyfriend so quickly.

"My dad... Hey Ace, do you mind grabbing the paper on the table-top over there? I thought that a nurse had brought that in earlier, but that may not be the case..."

Rory doesn't hesitate in hopping off the bed and fetching today's newspaper from where it's sitting on the other side of the room. When she returns to his bedside and finds her spot beside him, Logan shows her the message from his father.

" _Logan, I hope you're improving. I will be in to see you again today, or if not, tomorrow. The paper should be left in your room by now. Page 65. Dad._ "

Reading the message, Rory's face scrunches up just as she had watched Logan's do minutes ago.

"Your dad even _sounds like_ your dad in his messages. I never knew texts could boom like that..." Rory comments, but Logan is distracted as he awkwardly tries to singlehandedly thumb his way through the newspaper to reach page sixty-five; the page number that the elusive message had mentioned.

When page sixty-five –around the births, deaths and marriages section of the paper- is finally found and opened up to, both Rory and Logan instantly and simultaneously let out a little gasp and look to each other, eyes dilated.

Page sixty-five of one of Mitchum Huntzberger's _Huntzberger Publishing Group_ -owned newspapers opens to a huge half-page spread and birth announcement.

' _Mitchum and Shira Huntzberger are delighted to finally announce the birth of their grandchild, Lorelai Elleigh Gilmore, born on the 12_ _th_ _of December 2007 to her parents, Logan Elias Huntzberger and Lorelai Leigh Gilmore_.'

Both Logan and Rory stare and gawk at the page in today's newspaper, announcing their daughter in the biggest way possible before Rory finally breaks the silence and speaks.

"A belated birth announcement for Elle..? That's _crazy_... He spoke to me in the waiting room while we were all waiting for you to wake up. He asked me if he could tell others about her. I guess _this_ is what he meant..."

"Well I guess it's technically _still_ a birth announcement, just ten years after the fact..."

Looking between the man beside her, then to the newspaper in front of them and back again, a grin just unfolds across Rory's lips before she speaks up again.

"After all this time, I suddenly see where you get your penchant for grand gestures from..."

Logan rolls his eyes, knowing that she knows he's far from impressed at being compared to his father. He ignores her comment and doesn't retort, knowing he'd only be giving her the satisfaction for her tease and instead he focuses back on the article.

"Now, I'm not quite sure because I don't exactly recognise the concept, but I _think_ that this may be what Mitchum Huntzberger extending an olive branch looks like... If that's the case, then I feel like we can deduce that the world is coming to an end..."

* * *

 **Okay... How many times in how many different languages can I say 'I'm sorry'? Because, I want to shout it from the rooftops. I am SO sorry for how long this chapter has taken to get up. The problems is that it doesn't even feel like that long since I last updated but time has just flown by. I don't know if anyone's still reading and I don't know if anyone is still interested in this story... Either way, I hope the next chapter will be up in a fraction of the time it took this one to go up.**

 **Also, I'd like to thank everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter, before my enormous hiatus.**

 **Next chapter: Logan returns home, giving himself and Rory time to reacquaint themselves with each other better. **


	33. Nurses And Sleuths

**CHAPTER 33: Nurses And Sleuths**

Logan had to stay in the hospital for just under a week before the doctor signed off on his discharge.

After what had felt like the longest week of his life, Logan couldn't wait for the comfort of his own home, sans pesky nurses, dreadful hospital food and what he's sure was _the_ most uncomfortable bed in the world.

As per her offer, Rory and Logan had arranged for her to be his carer upon his return home.

Although he didn't need an enormous amount of assistance, there were just a few odd things he still needed someone else for; things like preparing his meals, fetching things from the second storey of his home, helping him change shirts and pick things up that he drops. After all, his most inconvenient injury are his broken ribs that have limited his mobility.

Seeing as Rory would be spending all day everyday along with the evenings at Logan's, looking after him, he had offered her to have his room for convenience. Sure, her house was barely ten minutes away, but it would help her to have a base and some space for herself rather than having to continually go back and forth for as long as she looks after him. Plus, Elle already had her room set up at Logan's so she was already sorted in terms of staying at her dad's.

Initially Rory had declined his offer, feeling like sharing a roof was too much, too soon and that people might start to get suspicious. However, by the second day, Rory had unintentionally started using his place as more of a base, settling into his Logan's room upstairs for when she needed to do some work for the paper and by the third day, she didn't even bother going home after making the room hers while he's using the downstairs guest bedroom, unable to get up stairs to his own.

* * *

After taking Elleigh to school that morning, Rory returned home just in time for the daily sound effects of Logan painfully trying to get out of bed.

"Morning you... Do you want a hand?" she asks standing in the doorway of the guest bedroom, _Luke's_ coffee cup in her hand.

Since his accident, Logan has been the typical male patient; as equally stubborn as he is dramatic.

"I'm fine" Logan winces through gritted teeth as he slowly and painfully tries to get himself upright and out of bed.

As much as she doesn't like just standing back and watching Logan in pain, after the last few days with him she knows from experience that he really _doesn't_ want her help. He prefers to do it for himself, hobble out of bed on his own and _then_ be bathed in her sympathy.

"Did Elle get off to school alright?" Logan asks when he finally has himself upright as he hobbles over to her, still wincing.

"Yeah, she was fine. Bit grumpy... She asked to stay home with us, but other than that she was alright."

Logan nods in acknowledgement, slowly walking out into the living area as Rory follows behind him as she continues to speak.

"I thought you'd be up soon so I made you some toast. That and a coffee from _Luke's_ are out on the table for you."

The two make their way over to the dining table, Logan several steps behind Rory. In a role reversal, she gets his chair to make it easier for him before she takes her own seat.

As Logan has his breakfast, Rory checks her emails at his dining table before he speaks up and grabs her attention.

"Tell me about your pregnancy. I'm curious what it was like for you being pregnant with Elle."

Over the last few days, since Rory and Logan have been spending all day, every day with each other, all sorts of obscure topics such as this have come up and been spoken about in-depth, talking over details from their lives in the last ten years.

"My pregnancy...? Ooh, wow, that was a while ago" Rory says, referring to her now nine-year-old daughter.

She's stalling as she tries to think about what she could mention to the father of her child to answer his question.

"Well, during my pregnancy, I thought Elle was going to be a boy. I was _convinced_."

Smiling at what she's just told him, Logan waits to finish his mouthful of toast before he responds to her comment. " _Really_?"

"Yeah... I never found out her gender before she was born, but I felt convinced that I was having a boy. So, it turns out my maternal instincts were _way_ off the mark. But, I was so relieved when they handed me our little girl. I was panicking that I wouldn't know what to do with a boy."

Logan nods at her recount as he eats his breakfast, looking at her intently and wanting her to continue reminiscing about the pregnancy that he had missed.

"If she was a boy, I was going to call her Elias Richard –Eli- instead of Elleigh."

From across the dining room table, the two of them share a smile, knowingly, making the connection that it's Logan's middle name.

Then, before he raises his next question, Logan takes a big, deep breath of air to ask the question that feels unthinkable.

"After you found out you were pregnant, did you ever consider _not_ having her?"

Even though he's only known of his daughter's existence for a few short months so far, the thought of not having his nine-year-old and the thought of her never even having existed just about feels _unthinkable_.

"Only for about a fraction of a second... It took me a while to wrap my head around the idea and to feel okay with having her, but no amount of pro or con lists would have changed my decision to have her. For my mom to have had me in _her_ circumstances, then there's no way I could have lived with the alternative decision for a child of mine."

"I'm glad..." Logan says quietly, in a sombre tone, knowing if she had made a different decision, their daughter wouldn't be at school as she is today.

As they settle into a silence, Logan eventually breaks it by posing another question to the mother of his child. "So what else can you tell me about your pregnancy?"

"Mm... Let's see... I only had light nausea and morning sickness during the first trimester, light enough to not think anything of it. But, the morning sickness struck violently in the third trimester just before she was born. I didn't really have any unusual cravings, apart from having an even stronger desire for coffee than normal, which was just about _torture_."

Logan nods in acknowledgement to her answers. He just wishes he could have been there. No matter how much he tries to forgive her and forget, that sting of knowing how much he's missed just doesn't seem to go away.

"How did everyone react when you started telling people?"

"My mom got pretty excited, pretty quickly... Just as soon as she thought up some ways to make sure that she was a young, cool grandmother."

Logan just chuckles, expecting nothing less from his daughter's maternal grandmother.

"My dad was pretty shocked when I told him and similarly to my mom, he set out to prove that he was still young and cool. In fact, I think telling him induced a bit of a midlife crisis. Initially, my grandparents were unimpressed by the fact that it was out of wedlock, but as soon as they met Elle, they were completely smitten. And then there's Luke..."

As Rory pauses from her explanation, taking a moment to release a pent-up sigh, Logan waits patiently and wordlessly, interested to see what she has to say next.

Luke had spoken about the matter to him briefly before. Logan sensed that he did not agree with what Rory did and the decisions she made to keep him out of their daughter's life. But, as much as he did not agree with what she did, Logan also sensed that he felt like his hands were tied. As much as he was a better father to her than her own, Luke did not have the authority of a parent over Rory and he didn't have any rights to push her into telling Logan.

Instead, he could only maintain his disapproval in her actions by occasionally trying to bring the point up, trying to help her seeing from Logan's view, Luke himself knowing all too well what being kept out of your child's life feels like.

"Luke never approved of my decisions. I could tell that he felt very strongly about the fact that you didn't know. But, I don't think that he felt at liberty to push the issue with me. He brought it up several times and incorporated it where he could, but, seeing as I'm an adult and he's only my step-father, I think he felt like it wasn't his place to say too much. But, I could always tell that he never agreed with it."

From across the other side of the table, Logan swallows painfully, wincing as he does so. A part of him is flattered and quite frankly _amazed_ by the fact that his girlfriend's stepfather and the man his daughter knows to be her grandpa has such sympathy for him and that he _has_ done so for so long.

All those years ago, Logan never really thought that Luke liked him. Rather, he thought that he felt like he was never, ever good enough for his beloved Rory. However, upon hearing how the gruff diner owner had gone in to bat for him against Rory and her decisions was really quite something. Even just the fact that Luke felt like Logan's situation and the idea of being kept from Elle just as he had been from April was something that he appreciated.

Then, all of a sudden, Logan's focus turns back toward the woman on the other end of the table to him.

"Do **you** regret it? Not listening to him?"

"Of course I do. I felt hurt and I felt rejected at one of the hardest points in my life when I was faced with some of the biggest decisions and crossroads. But, for the rest of my life I think I will live to regret the fact that I didn't get out of my own head for long enough to think about you and to think about Elle. I should have known what a fantastic father you would have been _to_ her and _for_ her. I am so truly sorry to both of you."

Logan simply nods as he picks up his piece of toast that she'd left on the table for him, taking a few bites while he averts his gaze from her guiltily. Then, when he finally returns to looking across to the woman at the other end of the table, he can see the pain in her own eyes that mirrors his.

So, with a deep breath, Logan speaks up with just a few simple words.

"Come here, Ace."

When her striking blue eyes look up and in his direction with a little bewilderment, he gives her a nod, confirming what he'd just said as he gestures for her to join him on the other side of his lavish table.

Getting up and following his direction, Logan originally gives her a wicked little grin as he ignores his healing ailments, gesturing for her to take a seat on his lap, to which she just rolls her eyes and squats beside his chair.

Then, as he takes her hand into his, his chocolately brown eyes look deeply into her vivid blues, massaging small circles into the top of her hand with his thumb.

"We _can't_ change the past, Ace. As much as I wish we could and as much as I wish things had happened differently to the way that they did, we can't change any of it. We can't change what happened and we can't change the way things transpired with Elle. I made stupid decisions, you made stupid decisions and apparently I'm _still_ making them..."

As Logan begins speaking, he looks down to his injuries from his car accident that had happened as a result of failing to see his limitations and pushing himself too much for too long. Then, the moment of realisation came from behind the wheel of a car when weary brown eyes closed shut for a split second too long.

"... But we can only change what happens from _now_. Despite the decisions you made previously, now I know about Elleigh and I know that I'm a father so I can only try to do my best for her from here on out. Meanwhile, I'm going to have to learn that I'm not invincible, I'm not Superman."

Rory nods somberly and despite the comfort of the circles that he's massaging into her hand, she still can't quite bear to look him in the eye from her guilt.

"We're over this... _I'm_ over it. We're past it, Ace" Logan reassures with another squeeze of his hand, sensing her lingering guilt.

"It's forward from here; for me, for you and for our girl."

* * *

After their more somber conversation over breakfast, Rory and Logan managed to put it behind them and move on with the rest of their day, making the most of their time together before their daughter returned home from school.

Then, after Rory picked Elleigh up from school just after three, the two girls once again returned home bearing goods from _Luke's_ for the man at home.

Waltzing in through the front door of her father's home, Elle immediately raced to his side, asking him all about how his day was and how he was feeling with great concern. Then, after he heard all about how her day was and which with VanGerbig twin was in her good books or her bad books today, he began helping her with her homework and her science assignment while Rory prepared dinner.

Over the past week, the three of them have slowly been becoming the picture of domesticity...

Sitting there at dinner that night, Logan tells dad jokes that make his girlfriend roll her eyes and their daughter giggles before she tells them her own stories with great passion and animation while Rory passes the plates and tells Elle to take more greens.

The three of them make quite the little family there, looking and sounding the part.

Between talking to her and when they finally steal their gaze away from the nine-year-old they share, Rory and Logan's eyes are quick to find each other's sharing little glances and glimmers in secrecy and silence which they expect to fly straight over their daughter's head.

After all, just that afternoon while Elleigh was at school, the two of them had discussed their recently rekindled relationship and the impact that it would have on their daughter.

The two of them had unanimously decided that it would be best for Elle if they wait some time and ensure that _they're_ sure before they sit down and explain the fact that they're back together to their daughter. They want to be sure of their relationship and the fact that they're going to be able to make it before _sharing_ that with Elle.

Consequently, despite Logan and Rory's decision to try and keep their news from their nine-year-old, given the fact that she is far more perceptive than what they'd give her credit for, Elle had noticed almost _all_ of the glances and glimmers that they thought they'd done so well to conceal from their child's eyes.

However, she _had_ seen it and she _had_ noticed it after watching a few too many rom-coms with both her mother and grandmother...

Consequently, the perceptive young girl was absolutely _convinced_ that she'd hidden her own grin upon seeing 'the spark' between her parents and uncovering what she felt like she had that evening.

So, later on that night while her mother is loading the dishwasher and her father is checking his emails on his laptop, a little nine-year-old sleuth swiftly grabs her father's phone, pocketing it, before swiping it open from the privacy of her own room as she quickly finds one nunber among her father's list of contacts.

After a few simple buttons, the number picks up almost instantly to a voice that it hadn't been expecting to hear on the other side of the line.

"Uncle Finn, it's Elle... You know how you said that I can come to you with any favours? I think I might have one... You see, I think my mom and dad still like each other but I don't think that they know that yet... I just want them to be happy so I think I'm going to need some help..."

* * *

 **I am so sorry for the horrendous wait. I thought that this would be up many months sooner than this. However, it's been a bit of a rough year so far. Just says after my last update, I lost someone very close to me very suddenly and unexpectedly so my year started off with a funeral and coming to terms with that. Then, my work situation became quite up in the air and uncertain after some bad news from my employers. Since then, I've also just started a new job which has kept me busy and on my toes. So yes, that's where I've been. I'm sorry that this story had suffered as a result of all of that.**

 **I'm not even sure if there's anyone still out there and anyone still interested but I promise the next chapter will be up sooner. Apologies again!**


End file.
